Lori Danielson, president of Eastside Audubon Society.

President’s Letter: Your Support Needed to Reduce Bird-Window Collisions

By Lori Danielson

I’d like to encourage you to take a small action that could make a huge difference for birds: support the Bird-Safe Buildings Act that’s now in Congress. It’s a bill that Seattle Audubon is supporting and they have made it easy to email our representatives to show our support too.

Bird-window collisions are a serious conservation concern, killing up to one billion birds each year in the United States. That makes windows the second largest human-related direct cause of bird deaths. There’s never been a more urgent time to support the Bird-Safe Buildings Act because our birds face many threats. Reducing glass hazards on public buildings is an important part of protecting our birds for future generations.

Every year since 2011, Representative Mike Quigley from Illinois has collaborated with experts from the American Bird Conservancy to introduce the bipartisan Bird-Safe Buildings Act (H.R. 1986 / S. 791). The Bird-Safe Buildings Act would require any public building constructed, acquired, or substantially altered by the General Services Administration to meet bird-safe building standards.

Contacting your elected representatives could make 2021 the year the Bird-Safe Buildings Act is finally passed into law. Let’s make sure all our representatives know there is strong public support for bird-safe buildings. Quickly email your legislators using Seattle Audubon’s site here. In just a couple of clicks, you can join me in urging your senators and house representative to support the Bird-Safe Buildings Act.