The pleas to turn off office lights during migration season sound loud and clear each year. But what about buildings that are, essentially, mirrored death traps, designed to reflect the sky, both day and night? The ominous 3-towered office complex at Consilium Place, Scarborough, Ontario, is such a trap.
We’ve heard comedians laying the blame squarely on the heads of the dying songbirds ‘stupid enough to fly into buildings.’ However, there are others who say that building structures that mirror the surrounding atmosphere and confuse and ultimately kill tiny feathered creatures is innately cruel and amoral.
So unethical, in fact, that environmental groups Ontario Nature and Ecojustice Lawyers have launched a private prosecution against the Consilium Place management for infractions under the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Because the GTA is a migration thoroughfare for birds during spring migration, beginning next week and running until early June, as well as during fall migration, from August to the end of October, thousands of birds are in lethal danger.
But the Consilium Place towers, reaching as high as 17 stories, are especially deadly, covered from ground to sky with mirrored glass and standing alone in an area with very few highrises.
Everything from Golden-Crowned Kinglets to Hummingbirds, White-throated Sparrows, and Juncos have met a painful end flying into what bird safety advocate Michael Mesure terms “the most reflective glass windows of any building in the city.”
In 2001, Mesure recalls an avian nightmare when FLAP volunteers recovered 500 dead or injured birds in only six hours. In October 2005, they picked up 400 birds in two days. In the 2008-2009 seasons, over 800 birds were recovered. Most collisions happen between ground level and the fourth floor, where sky and trees are perfectly reflected in the glass.
Caroline Schultz of Ontario Nature says the point of the lawsuit is to set a precedent, forcing business owners and building managers to take the problem seriously and realize their legal responsibility.
The Consilium management company, Menkes, will appear in court this month, after being reluctant to take strong measures to mitigate the problem, likely because, ultimately, it would require changing the actual aesthetics of the office towers. Meager attempts to improve the situation were made, such as employing scare tactics using hawk silhouettes and hanging things in surrounding trees.
Greater changes, though, may become necessary should the case for the birds come off victorious.
The post Flying into Death: Mirrored Highrise Fatal Trap for Songbirds appeared first on Greenr.ca.
