During the spring migration, over 300 bird species make their way back to our province, many of which travel thousands of kilometres from their wintering grounds and rely on Manitoba’s summer habitats for nesting and food.  

Migration season in the spring is an especially difficult time for birds as they are often travelling through cities and suburbs. Here in Winnipeg, songbirds are frequent victims of window collisions, but birds of all shapes and sizes can collide with windows.

In daylight, trees and sky reflect off the window glass, creating the illusion of a continuous landscape that birds can fly through. Birds may also see indoor plants through the glass and confuse them with desirable habitats. As a result, many birds fly directly into windows, leading to disorientation, injury, or death. 

So, what do we all do to help?

1. Make Our Windows Bird-Friendly

Reduce the reflection and transparency of your windows. There are a variety of inexpensive DIY techniques you can use at home and at work, and this is a great way to get kids involved in wildlife conservation! 

• Decorate your windows with washable markers, like chalk markers. Draw lines, dots, or create a fun design. 
• Create a design or draw lines or dots on your windows with a bar of soap. 
• If you’d rather not place anything directly on your glass, string yarn across your windows. Lines or grid designs are both effective. Make sure it is secured and will not blow away in a strong wind. 

Any markings on your windows should be on the outside the window and spaced no more than 5 cm apart. This prevents even small birds from colliding. 

2. Make Small Changes Inside Your Home 

There are small, simple changes you can make inside your home to make a big difference! Try these easy techniques to deter birds from flying into your window: 

• Turn off your lights at night. 
• Move large house plants further away from windows. 
• Close your curtains and blinds whenever possible. 
• Refrain from cleaning your windows frequently during migration season. 

3. Invest in a More Permanent Solution 

At Assiniboine Park and Zoo, we have added long-term treatments of small dots to many of our windows, making our buildings safer for birds. These dots break up the reflection of glass and provide a more permanent solution to save birds. The stickers are easy to install and come in large rolls of tape. Visit Feather Friendly to purchase a DIY kit for your home or office.

Maurice, one of our Zoo volunteers, is putting bird-friendly dots on a window in the White-Handed Gibbon habitat.

4. Participate in Community Science Projects 

You can help larger Community Science Projects by documenting sightings of birds and reporting bird-window collisions. 

eBird is among the world’s largest biodiversity-related science projects, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed annually by eBirders around the world. You can download the app on your phone and start documenting your sightings, which contribute to hundreds of conservation decisions and peer-reviewed papers, and help inform bird research worldwide. 

The Park is a proud supporter of FLAP Canada, an organization dedicated to safeguarding migratory birds through education, policy, development, research, rescue, and rehabilitation. You can report bird collisions to FLAP using the Global Bird Collision Mapper as an individual or create a team for your workplace or neighbourhood.

5. Spread the Word! 

Tell your friends, family, and coworkers about the threat that windows pose to birds and help those around you discover solutions!  

The more people know about this issue, the better we can all work together to create a safer world for migratory birds. 

Want to help within the community? Check out Bird-Friendly Winnipeg, a "volunteer-led group of nature-lovers, birders, artists, scientists, policy-makers, neighbours, and Winnipeggers who are working together to certify our city as Bird Friendly."