COURNEY McCLURE The Standard
UXBRIDGE: On Monday, August 19th, the Uxbridge Town Hall windows were decorated by Uxbridge Bird-Friendly team member Carly Davenport. Ms. Davenport decorated the windows to prevent birds from flying into them. She did her work with a marker.
This retrofit project is a part of the Bird Friendly City certification process. To learn more about the Bird Friendly City certification process, please visit naturecanada.ca.
Ms. Davenport said one of the points included on Uxbridge’s certificate application is to show the municipality has taken measures to reduce bird-to-window-collisions.
“[The mural] is not a permanent solution,” explained Ms. Davenport. “But, it’s definitely, hopefully, gonna be good enough to fill the gap before the Township does a permanent retrofit of the building.”
The temporary mural may last a year or two, depending on further weather conditions. Heavy rainfall, snow and sleet will affect the mural’s permanence.
This is not Ms. Davenport’s first time completing a “retrofitting” project. She runs the Bird Safe University of Toronto group.
Ms. Davenport performed the same retrofit with a group of volunteers at the E.J. Pratt Library in Toronto.
The Uxbridge Bird-Friendly team invites all bird lovers and Uxbridge residents to participate in the Global Bird Rescue (GBR) event from September 23rd to the 29th. This annual event is hosted by Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada, and GBR is meant to raise awareness for related bird-to-building collisions.
To learn more about this event, please visit globalbirdrescue.org.
If you want to treat your windows, please remember that not all commercially available window treatments are effective or safe for birds.
In the spring of 2024, FLAP Canada submitted a “code change request” to the Canadian Board of Harmonized Construction Codes, asking them to consider updating the National Building Code in 2025.
FLAP’s submission recommended the National Building Code to include the CSA A460:19 Bird Friendly Building design standard. A hyperlink to the submission is available at https://flap.org/ontario-building-code/#news.
However, some municipalities may have specific guidelines built into their building site plans; Toronto, Markham and Richmond Hill are examples. So, new buildings are required to treat windows on the first, second, third and fourth floors. Feather Friendly is a commercial product based out of Markham if you are looking for specific window treatment brands. Feather Friendly has been tested using live birds in a wind tunnel and is 95 percent effective in terms of deterring birds from colliding with glass windows.
If you would like to look into Feather Friendly, please check out their website at stage.featherfriendly.com.
If you are unable to volunteer your time with the Uxbridge Bird-friendly team, you can plant a few native plant species around your property.
Field Thistle, Cup Plant and the Cardinal Flower are just a few of the native species residents can plant to promote a bird-friendly environment.
If you are interested in making your community more “bird-friendly” there are many actions you can take.
Each year, over one-hundred million birds die because of outdoor cats. So, one of the best ways to promote a bird-friendly environment is by keeping your cats inside.
If you would like to volunteer to help the Uxbridge Bird-Friendly Team, contact them on Facebook or Instagram. You can find them on Facebook at Bird Friendly Uxbridge and on Instragram at birdfriendlyuxbridge.
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