Someone should be making a bigger flap over the distressingly large number of migratory birds that unnecessarily die flying into the windows of downtown buildings.
Just on Thursday, nearly 1,000 birds drawn by lights died after hitting the large windows of the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, which sits plumb smack in the middle of an important migratory bird route. On the same night, but not getting as much attention, many other unfortunate birds died flying into the windows of other downtown buildings that weren’t designed to protect birds.
How did this happen in a city that was a leader in the “Lights Out” program, which encourages building owners to turn off unnecessary lights during bird migrations?
Back in 2020, the Chicago City Council instructed city staff to develop bird safety requirements for new construction. Bird enthusiasts tracking the progress of the plan say it appears it will be rolled out next year as part of comprehensive regulations for sustainable buildings. In the meantime, though, many new buildings have gone up that would be expensive to retrofit for bird safety, and many birds have died needlessly.
As for the Lakeside Center, it allows exhibitors to decide whether to close curtains to protect birds after the sun goes down. That should no longer be a choice in times of migration. The curtains should automatically be closed or some other measures put in place, such as adding special screening on the windows that alerts birds to the glass while allowing people inside to look out.
Elsewhere, it’s prohibitively expensive to fully retrofit older buildings to protect birds. But building owners should do what they can, including turning off lights, adding window screening and making sure indoor greenery doesn’t lure birds into hitting windows.
The FBI building at 2111 W. Roosevelt, for example, adds netting during migrations to catch birds before they hit the windows should they mistakenly try to fly into the atrium.
Nationwide, up to almost a billion birds die each year after flying into windows, according to a 2014 study. Reducing the number of deaths will help stem the decline of bird populations. A 2019 report by the journal Science said the United States and Canada have 2.9 billion fewer birds than in 1970, a reduction of 29%. On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker encouraged Illinoisans to turn off their lights to protect migrating birds.
The Lakeside Center is not a towering skyscraper with so many windows it would be hard to install bird protection on each one. Everyone from city staff to those who run McCormick Place should agree: We should never have another night when almost 1,000 birds die.
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