News Releases

2,000 Dead Birds at the ROM

Fatal Light Awareness Program to display birds killed in collisions with buildings on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 10:30 am

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) hosts a display of approximately 2,000 birds from 89 species killed in collisions with human-built structures during the Fall 2005 migratory season on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 10:30 am.

The species, brought to the ROM by Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) volunteers, include hummingbirds, woodpeckers, warblers, thrushes, sparrows, and kinglets. Among the dead are 419 Black-capped Chickadees that hit mirrored walls and windows last Fall – sometimes entire flocks, one bird after the other.

With an initiative dubbed Lights Out Toronto, the City of Toronto is the first city in the world to implement a migratory bird protection policy, thanks to a City Council resolution adopted on January 31, 2006. This legislation will protect birds by controlling light from buildings, increased public education, and improved bird rescue.

Each year in Toronto thousands of birds die as a result of collisions with buildings in our urban environment. Researchers conservatively estimate that for every structure, 1 to 10 birds are lost each year. With 940,000 structures in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), ranging from residential dwellings to tall office towers, it is estimated between 940,000 and 9.4 million birds are killed annually throughout the GTA.

The ROM plays an important role with FLAP as the central repository for many of the birds, then distributing the specimens to various researchers and institutions including Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, as well as other museums and universities. The ROM also adds to its own bird collections with gallery mounts, skins, skeletons and tissue samples. The collections are then made available to researchers, artists, and educational groups.

Lights Out Toronto will launch a public awareness campaign on how Torontonians can prevent the deaths of thousands of migratory birds by simple acts like turning lights off. The reflective and
transparent characteristics of glass make windows invisible killers. Birds see the tree reflected in a window, or the plant behind the window, not the glass itself.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 8, 2006 from 10:30 am to 11:30 am

Remarks will be begin at 10:30 am and include speakers Michael Mesure, Executive Director, FLAP; Mark Peck, Ornithology, Department of Natural History, ROM; Nathalie Karvonen, Executive Director, Toronto Wildlife Centre; and Joe D’Abramo, Manager, Environment and Zoning, City Planning Division, City of Toronto.

Photographers are invited to arrive from 9:30 am during the bird set up by FLAP volunteers.

WHERE: The ROM’s Loblaws Entrance (south end of the main building, 100 Queens Park) – look for the red awning. The photo op and remarks will take place in the historic Rotunda.

 

 

Issue date:
March 6, 2006

For more information:
Media Relations
Tel.: 416.586.5547
Fax: 416.586.8022
E-mail: media@rom.on.ca

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