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Birds play an important role in our ecosystems and yet alarmingly since the 1970s their population in North America has declined by 29% (2.9 billion birds). Recent estimates suggest that 25 million birds die each year from window collisions in Canada. A disproportionately high number of these fatalities occur in Toronto which is situated at the confluence of two major migratory superhighways – the Atlantic and Mississippi Migratory Flyways – and home to one-third of all tall buildings in Canada. 

So what can we do to design and build a more bird-friendly city and how does it all fit within the larger concept of green design?

Join us for this one hour lecture as Environmental Planner Kelly Snow shares with us the evolution of bird-friendly design and the development of policies within the City of Toronto to support biodiversity. Using best practices and case studies, this presentation will walk us through existing guidelines and performance requirements, as well as delve into design and building management strategies which we can implement to reduce bird-collisions to support a more biodiverse Toronto. 

Some Resources

• Toronto Green Standard (including bird-collision deterrence performance measures), City of Toronto 
• Bird-Friendly Best Practices Glass, City of Toronto
• Best Practices for Effective Lighting, City of Toronto
• Birds of Toronto, City of Toronto’s Biodiversity Series 

About the Speaker 

Kelly Snow has worked for the City Planning Division of the City of Toronto since 2002.  For 17 years he was a Policy Planner for the Environmental Planning Unit in the Strategic Initiatives, Policy & Analysis Section and most recently he has been working in the North District Community Planning Office.  Kelly’s projects have included: the City’s Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines; Best Practices for Bird-Friendly Glass; Best Practices for Effective Lighting; Toronto’s Road Ecology Initiative; Chimney Swift Monitoring Initiative; Toronto’s Biodiversity Series; and, development of the City’s Biodiversity Strategy.  He also works on the implementation of the Toronto Green Standard in the planning process.  Kelly served as Chair of the Technical Committee for developing a national standard for bird-friendly buildings with the Canadian Standards Association.