Bird’s Eye View by Kiki Sonnen

Do you ever have a feeling of déjà vu all over again?

Recently, more than 1,000 migratory birds collided with buildings across downtown Chicago and at the Northwestern University campus in nearby Evanston, Illinois.

This mass-collision event occurred overnight on October 17. The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors and Bird Friendly Chicago led the recovery of the bodies and the rescue of survivors.

Yet it was just back in October 2023–three years ago—that nearly 1,000 birds died in a single night after crashing into the glass facade of McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago.

How and why do birds crash into glass windows and building facades? Bright artificial lights confuse nighttime migrants and cause crashes. Daylight brings other problems since the birds’ view of glass building facades shows the reflection of the sky and trees, and they crash against the glass at speeds of 35 mph. 

Following the 2023 mass collision and deaths of birds, the McCormick building was subsequently retrofitted with bird-safe glass, which reduced bird collisions by 95 percent.

Now, Bird Friendly Chicago is calling for the passage of the Bird Friendly Building Design Ordinance. Interestingly, the Chicago Ordinance has similar language to the St. Paul Ordinance for bird-safe design in the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area. Unfortunately, the St. Paul City Council ultimately deleted the bird-safe features from the ordinance. 

The Chicago Ordinance, authored by Alderperson Maria Haden, cleared the City Council Rules Committee and sits in the Zoning Committee for language revisions. Annette Prince, director of Chicago’s Bird Collision Monitors, said: “We know how to prevent collisions.” She said shame on the city officials for letting the bird safe ordinance languish in committee without a hearing.

And back in St. Paul, the City Council’s directive to conduct a Bird Study is going nowhere fast. In 2025, Council President Noecker told planning staff to complete the study within six months. But we have not seen a draft or an outline or even a timeline.

Meanwhile, our migratory birds keep coming like clockwork. Our resident birds keep showing up and getting ready for winter. They need our help.  We need their fortitude.

Perhaps it is best for us all to reflect on the guidance of beloved bird lover and bird artist Roger Tory Peterson. He said: “The other creatures with which we share this world have rights too, but not speaking our language, they have no voice, no vote; it is our moral duty to take care of them!”