Bird Collisions: Hazardous Features and Easy Solutions

About our topic

Join NHE, Rotary International and Annette Prince, from Chicago Bird Collision Monitors on this informative talk on bird collisions.

It's bird migration time in Chicagoland. Let's give birds safe passage through our region.

Nearly a billion birds perish each year as a result of window strikes. They see the sky or tree in a window reflection and fly towards it, dying at the solid pane. For decades, Annette Prince of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors has collected about 11,000 birds a year, helping the Field Museum build an extraordinary profile of bird collisions in our area, and saving thousands of injured songbirds. She will discuss the perils facing our migratory birds, the buildings where they collide in Chicago and Evanston and why. She shares easy steps we can each take to help them find safe passage through Chicagoland. It’s a concern only heightened in recent years as our population of birds declines while our reliance on glass grows as a foundation element in architectural design.

About the speaker

Annette Prince has worked on local and national conservation projects as well as wildlife education and rehabilitation programs over the last thirty years. She joined the grass-roots project - Chicago Bird Collision Monitors – in 2004 and became its director in 2005 helping to advance its mission to rescue, educate and advocate for the protection of birds impacted by the dangers they face in urban areas. Annette has served on the board of the Chicago Bird Alliance (formerly Chicago Audubon Society) for 20 years. She heads the Bird Friendly Chicago initiative to promote bird-friendly building design in Chicago. Annette is an avid bird watcher who has traveled to all 50 states, Canada, Mexico and Central America to enjoy birds and their natural habitats.

Natural Habitat Evanston, a program of Climate Action Evanston, is an all-volunteer community group of about 900 members, spreading the word on creating habitat for insects, birds, and other wildlife. We aim to change the culture of lawns: leaving your leaves is the simplest first step; the second step is adding a native shrub or tree to shrink your lawn. We show how to transition from turf with low-cost cardboard methods, which keystone native plants to choose for year-round forage, that insects chewing on leaves is a ‘win’ (rather than cause to reach for pesticide), how turning off unnecessary lights saves insect and birds (and human health), and how to make your windows bird-friendly (because if you are going to invite birds to your yard, let them visit safely). We plant a lot of native trees and shrubs, especially at schools and in the 5th Ward.

We encourage people to think outside the lawn with No Mow May. Our Pollinator Pledge is a central focus of all our outreach and education, and a great way to spread the word to your neighbors.

We encourage people to think outside the lawn with No Mow May. Our Pollinator Pledge is a central focus of all our outreach and education, and a great way to spread the word to your neighbors.