My name is Helena and I am a high school senior at School Without Walls High School. My senior project evaluates the threats to migratory birds in urban areas like DC and what local governments are (or aren't) doing about it. 

You’ve probably heard the unfortunate crash of a bird into a window and went outside to see a bird laying on the ground, unconscious, or even dead. This is a reality for many of DC’s birds, who have to navigate a growing city with many hazards and threats. City Wildlife, a non-profit organization based in DC, estimates that glass collisions nationwide cause as many as “one billion bird deaths a year.” Birds are not only threatened by glass collisions, but also by pollution and habitat loss.

The birds that primarily fall victim to these threats are migratory bird species that are already in serious decline. For example, the Wood Thrush, which is DC’s official bird, is one of the most common victims of glass collisions, whose population has “decreased by 50 percent since 1966 and continues to decrease by 2 percent every year”, according to City Wildlife.

Although there is currently a Wildlife Action Plan set in place, it does not adequately protect migratory birds. DC needs to introduce legislation to enforce bird-safe building designs and solutions, to protect birds from endocrine disruption due to pollution, and to prevent native habitats from being destroyed. 

DC City Council needs to:

-make elective A104.3 mandatory for all new construction projects (require new buildings in DC to have bird-safe glass and other collision prevention methods). 

-show support for Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act of 2021

-reconsider the effectiveness of current legislation around pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides

-raise public awareness about the threats to migratory birds