Chicago’s glass buildings kill thousands of migratory birds each year. Advocates want stronger protections

Read the full story from the Chicago Sun-Times.

With the spring migration on its way, Chicago bird safety advocates on Wednesday demanded that the city require new developments to use bird-friendly building standards.

When migratory birds pass through the city in the fall and spring each year, thousands of them are killed when they hit buildings. In just one night last fall, about 1,000 birds flew into McCormick Place Lakeside Center and died.

For the past four years, the Bird Friendly Chicago coalition has worked extensively with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development to create comprehensive guidelines to help developers design buildings to prevent birds from striking them, said Annette Prince, the director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

And until late last year, Prince was hopeful the planning department would make those guidelines a requirement for any new projects in the city. But in January, Prince said officials decided the guidelines would be optional, and developers would be able to “score points” if they incorporated bird-friendly features.