|
Friends of the Cawthra Bush & Greater Mississauga Area
• where my videos are posted Pages of Special Interest; • • Other Table of Contents; |
|
Scanned, recopied or Internet copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections: Opening
comments: More at the end. Toronto Star - Jul. 12, 2003 - pg.# 2, CONDO LIVING - By Ellen Moorhouse, Toronto Star's real estate editor - Email emoorhouse@thestar.ca Why aren't buildings designed for the birds? [Illustration] Large windows are nice, but when I was growing up I had very mixed feelings about the ones in our house- especially after a cedar waxwing flew into the glass and stunned itself. It had a honeysuckle berry in its mouth when I picked it up and placed it on some leaves in a feeding station out of harm's way. A cedar waxwing is a beautiful thing, a gentle brown, but so smooth and sleek, with touches of black, white, yellow and red. We ended up taking the bird to Roy Ivor, who was known as the Birdman of Mississauga. He had created a sanctuary for sick and injured birds on the bank of Sawmill Creek. He built a warren of cages, where he tried to nurse birds back to health. A recipient of the Order of Canada, Ivor died in 1979. He was almost 100 and had tended and studied the birds he loved for half a century. Now, someone with Ivor's passion, Michael Mesure, has taken up the fight in the Toronto area to help these vulnerable creatures. A decade ago, this bird lover founded FLAP, the Fatal Life Awareness Program (www.flap.org), in an effort to make this city and its skyscrapers a little less dangerous for migrating birds at night. Not only does he and a dedicated group of volunteers gather dead and injured birds at the base of buildings during migration times, but he has also worked hard - and with success - to get downtown buildings to cut their lighting at night. The bright illumination is disorienting for the migrating birds, most of which travel at night. Last year, Mesure says bird fatalities during migration season in Toronto numbered about 4,700, twice the normal level. Bird mortality caused by reflective glass during daylight hours is a more recent concern for Mesure. He's been working on that problem for about three years. About 200 cedar waxwings were killed in daytime collisions with a building near Yonge St. and York Mills Rd. during last fall's migration, Mesure says. "We always have certain species jump up from one year to the next, but that was quite a shock," says Mesure of the unusual numbers of waxwing deaths. Now, as freelance writer Philip Quinn reports on Page P7, Mesure is concerned about exterior vanity lighting used on buildings, including some new condos such as NY Towers at Bayview and Sheppard Aves. Although no migrating birds were reported to have collided with these condos this spring, Mesure says conditions can change from year to year, depending on weather patterns. What is not lethal one year can prove to be the next, and he wants to raise the concern now. Light pollution has become an issue around the world, because of its adverse environmental effects and because of the increasing difficulty of observing the stars from Earth. The International Dark Sky Association (www.darksky.org) is campaigning worldwide for more efficient use of lighting. "Our organization tries to educate people in general about better lighting practices," says Elizabeth Alvarez del Castillo, associate director of the association. There are many benefits, she says, including energy savings, improved visibility, and environmental advantages. Jurisdictions across Europe, in the United States and in South and Central America, have passed regulations of various kinds to reduce exterior lighting. In Florida, for example, many community ordinances limit lighting because of its adverse effect on turtles. "When the turtles are nesting and hatching, you don't want the light to be seen from the beach," says Alvarez del Castillo. The city of Chicago is taking an active role to encourage buildings to reduce lighting at night in the city. Several years ago, Mayor Richard Daley signed an Urban Bird Treaty with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and set up a Wildlife and Nature Committee. A growing number of high-profile buildings are turning off their lights during migration under the program and are also promoting a "Bird-Friendly Building Program" for high-rise managers. I find it ironic that we're creating more natural areas for birds and butterflies, we're working on water quality and fish habitat in the city, but the plight of the migratory birds isn't on the radar screen at city hall, or any other jurisdiction. So when we talk about green buildings, why isn't the issue of bird mortality part of that discussion? Chicago has done much more for its waterfront than we have. It looks like it's doing much more for its birds as well. PLEEASSE SIGN OUR PETITION It will make a difference! Home page - Main Table of Contents - Back up a Page - Back to Top [COMMENTS BY DON B. - ] |
|
Your
Financial Donations are Greatly Appreciated
Now Accepting Pay Pal
•
|