Sadly we’ve all heard or seen a bird fly straight into a glass window, and now New York City is doing something to help prevent the loss of our flying friends.
Yesterday on December 10, the New York City Council passed a bill that will “significantly reduce the cases of bird mortality due to collisions,” Speaker Corey Johnson posted on his Twitter feed.
According to a press release from the City Council, as many as 230,000 birds die each year in New York City from flying into buildings.
The release says the new bill requires “90 percent of the building envelope for the first 75 feet of any new building, or any building that is proposed to undergo major alterations, to be constructed of bird friendly materials that meet a specified design standard that is intended to decrease bird strikes.”
This decision follows the 2013 renovation of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which the NYC Audubon had dubbed “the city’s top bird-killing building.” The new glass was installed in patterns that looked like an obstacle to birds, and since then bird deaths at the building have dropped by 90 percent.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign the bill into law.
Featured image: Facebook / Javits Center