Environmental Development and Ecological Landscaping Services

Volunteers Fan Out Downtown to Save Birds

They start patrolling downtown buildings and streets at 5:30 am, nets and paper bags in hand. They’re volunteers intent on rescuing migrating birds that have collided with Chicago buildings.

Millions of birds migrate along Lake Michigan and the region’s major waterways each spring and fall, many of them traveling at night. Since birds cannot see glass the way people do, skyscrapers are a lethal threat to them.  While downtown buildings are turning off their lights at night to help birds navigate, volunteers are collecting those that do collide with buildings and whisking them to rehab centers.

You can help.  Chicago Bird Collision Monitors and the Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Center are looking for volunteers.


Read a Medill News Service article on bird collision and rescue, quoting WRD’s Sarah Beazley.