City Hall has a unique problem on its hands – Bohemian Waxwings, flying through Ottawa’s skyline on their way to the Boreal Forest, swoop down to feed on berries, and end up crashing into the glass walkway.
Patty Summers, with the Wild Bird Care Centre says the songbirds, which measure about 18 to 21 cm long, become disoriented with the city sounds and mistake the glass for open space.
The birds try to fly through the glass only to crash and die, or suffer injuries, says Summers.
Anouk Hoedeman, of the Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Bird Committee, says that this isn’t just occurring at City Hall. She pointed out that many waxwings were killed near the Scouts Canada building in Ottawa’s west end.
Hoedeman says for every building in a city, there are one to 10 birds dying as a result of crashes annually.
City staff have since applied window decals in an effort to stop some of the birds from crashing.
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes told the CBC that city staff will also be purchasing black decals in the shape of hawks to prevent the birds from flying through the windows.
Summers and Hoedeman both advise residents to put up decals in their windows to prevent these crashes.
Summers also notes that it’s important to place the decals on the outside portion of the window, so that the reflection from the glass is broken.
She added that in the long run, this wouldn’t have a large impact on the waxwings’ population, but people are horrified “because it’s human caused.”
“It’s our buildings that are causing it,” Summers says. “We can prevent it.”