USFWS petitioned to address building collisions

[Laura Bies]

The Center for Biological Diversity, along with dozens of local organizations, recently filed a legal petition under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a permitting process for commercial buildings likely to risk killing birds through collisions. Under such a permit system, building owners would be required to reduce collisions using films, curtains, and other means of making glass visible to birds.

Each year nearly one billion birds collide with glass in the U.S. The USFWS already provides resources and solutions on its website.

To reduce these building collisions, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition for a rulemaking that would establish the process, criteria, and conditions necessary for permitting the take of migratory birds caused by building collisions. It calls for a permitting process for new construction of buildings with glass facades or other features that foreseeably lead to collisions and for existing commercial buildings with documented collisions.

Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, all take of migratory birds is prohibited, including incidental take. In recent years, the agency has been working on draft regulations to address the incidental take of migratory birds; however that process has been delayed, with no timeline provided for completion.

Read the petition here.

About the Ornithological Council

The Ornithological Council is a consortium of scientific societies of ornithologists; these societies span the Western Hemisphere and the research conducted by their members spans the globe. Their cumulative expertise comprises the knowledge that is fundamental and essential to science-based bird conservation and management.  The Ornithological Council is financially supported by our member societies and the individual ornithologists who value our work. If the OC’s resources are valuable to you, please consider joining one of our member societies or donating directly at Birdnet.org. Thank you for your support!