What to know
- Olivia Chow’s motion directs the city to retrofit windows at Metro Hall and assess other buildings to prevent bird collisions.
- Bird-friendly glass can reduce collisions by up to 95 per cent, addressing a growing issue that kills thousands of birds locally each year.
- Advocacy group Fatal Light Awareness Program says Toronto is already a global leader but must now lead by example with its own buildings.
- Experts warn bird populations are declining, and protecting them is critical for ecosystems, pollination, pest control, and even economic activity like birdwatching.
The City of Toronto has just adopted a motion to ramp up measures to prevent bird collisions at Metro Hall and other city-owned buildings following thousands of incidents last year.
The motion, moved by Mayor Olivia Chow, requests the city’s executive committee to ensure the windows and glass railings up to at least the fifth floor of Metro Hall are retrofitted. In addition, it directs staff to assess other city buildings to implement a plan to retrofit those that haven’t yet gone through the process.
Retrofitting is a process that makes the existing glass visible to birds, which helps to prevent collision. According to the city, bird-friendly glass has been found to reduce collisions by 95 per cent.
Michael Mesure, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), tells Now Toronto that Toronto has in-fact been a leading city in terms of bird collision prevention.
The city was the first in the world to introduce mandatory requirements for new buildings to include measures to prevent collisions, which Mesure says inspired cities all over the world to follow suit.
“The piece that was missing is a wide-scale approach to leading by example. The City of Toronto has a massive portfolio of buildings, and they are expecting these standards to be adopted by all these developers and people in the community, without necessarily looking at their own building portfolios. And so they realized they’ve got to step up now,” he said. “This is a very important step.”
According to Mesure, while most people have probably witnessed a bird collision once or twice in their lifetime, they might not realize this is a larger issue.
As pointed out by the city in the motion, at least 42 million birds die each year in Canada due to building collisions. In Toronto, 5,000 birds have collided with glass in 2025 alone. In the meantime, bird populations in North America have declined by 25 per cent in 50 years.
Most of these collisions usually occur during spring and fall, when thousands of birds migrate through the city.
Mesure explains that preventing collisions is extremely important, as these animals play a pivotal role in controlling insect populations and pollinating plants.
“The birds that are dying colliding with Windows [are] not Canada geese, they’re not house sparrows, they’re not doves, they’re not pigeons…These are insectivorous or seed-eating birds that are just passing through the region,” he said.
“They distribute seeds, they pollinate plants, they provide food for other predators, all of which creates a healthy natural environment for humans to live in. Without them, we’re in trouble. There is no ‘ifs’ and or ‘buts’ about it, we [would be] in big trouble if these birds suddenly fell off the landscape. So, it’s in our best interest to protect these birds,”
In addition to environmental reasons, Mesure says it’s also important to protect birds as they are a font of inspiration to humans, and even have a role in the economy, with the bird-watching industry carrying millions of dollars each year.
“We’re inspired by birds, either directly or indirectly. Listen to music, classical music is inspired by birds, there’s artwork inspired. I mean, we were inspired to create aircrafts because we look at birds…They’re just beautiful creatures.”
Moving forward, Mesure says he believes the city should work on raising more awareness of the need to prevent collisions.
