There’s a rather intriguing poster these days in the Toronto subway system. It’s for an organization called FLAP – the Fatal Light Awareness Program.
FLAP works to safeguard migratory birds in the urban environment through education, research, rescue and rehabilitation. Its vision says it all: create a 24-hour collision free urban environment for migratory birds.
It isn’t an issue most of us are aware of. But after reading this, chances are you’ll look at birds flying around office towers differently.
After collisions, many birds are just stunned and will revive in a couple of hours. However, if they find themselves trapped in a maze of bright office towers, their chances of making it out alive are slim. Gulls, cats, crows and other predatory animals soon learn to patrol the area in search of an easy meal. As the day breaks, those birds that escape predation often panic as the city fills with people. Desperate to find cover, they collide with windows reflecting the natural surroundings, often with fatal results. If they manage to avoid further window collisions, some may slowly starve to death.
Why should we care?
Because creating a collision-free urban environment for migratory birds will have a lasting effect in helping reduce greenhouse gas & air emissions, while aid in conserving freshwater ecosystems.
And because birds are big business. According to data on FLAP’s site, birding is reportedly second only to gardening as the most rapidly growing leisure interest across North America. The number of bird-watchers in the U.S. and Canada grew 155 percent between 1983 and 1995. The Fish and Wildlife Service survey states that 62.9 million Americans participate in wildlife watching and spend $29.2 billion doing so.
Quebeckers and birding
According to PMB 2009 data, Quebeckers are slightly less likely to be actively involved in bird watching. 9% of Quebeckers went bird watching at least once in the past year compared to 11% of Canadians in the rest of Canada. But they are less likely to say they accept that ‘some environmental damage is an acceptable consequence of progress’.
There is a Montréal version of FLAP called ProjetAVES.
Bird bath
On a related note, here’s a clever spot for Dawn dishwashing liquid.
According to Brandchannel, the campaign may never have happened were it not for a charity’s persistence. The International Bird Rescue Research Center first discovered that Dawn worked on birds caught in oil spills in 1978. But Dawn’s maker, Procter & Gamble, ignored requests to donate cases of the product, then finally agreed to do so in 1988.
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