Bird Safe Campus Summit February 26, 2025 – #BSCS25
You’ve likely heard some variation of the proverb “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.” This speaks to our obligation to look after the environment — the land, the water, the skies, and all of their inhabitants.
A group of students from Canada and the US are acting on their obligation, organizing and hosting this summit to connect and share their passion and knowledge for saving birds from window collisions. Each of the organizers is involved with bird-safe organizations across North America, whether at their university or college through a “Bird Safe Campus” program or with organizations like Safe Wings, FLAP or the Bird Friendly City certification program.
“Why is this an issue?”, many wonder. We’ve all heard the thud of a bird colliding with a window, but most people push it away, thinking it is a rare or one-off occurrence or that the bird is fine because it flew away. However, the impact on birds is staggering! The estimate is that 16 to 42 million birds die every year in Canada from collisions with glass windows and railings. Safe Wings Ottawa estimates that 250,000 die annually in Ottawa. Among human-caused bird mortality, glass is second only to outdoor and roaming cats.
But solutions exist — many are simple, inexpensive and effective. However they need to be the right solutions. You can join these students at the summit to hear experts in the field and those with experience rescuing birds to find out what our children are doing to look after the earth they are going to inherit from us. Perhaps we can all learn from them.
The summit is being held virtually on Wednesday, February 26th from 9:30am to 5:30pm EST (or any part thereof that you can attend). Register for free at https://www.birdsafecampus.org/.
Keynote speakers are:
- Jim Cubie J.D., Policy and Outreach Associate for the Acopian Center for Ornithology at Muhlenberg College
- Daniel Klem Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Acopian Center for Ornithology at Muhlenberg College
- Brendon Samuels, PhD candidate, Dept of Biology, Western University
I am so delighted to see that two of the presenters/organizers Vanessa Hum and at this Summit have taken what they learned as part of the TD Environmental Leaders Program (supported by Safe Wings Ottawa & the OFNC) on to other Canadian Universities. There will also be a presentation by the current BSC@UOTTAWA students on their past and current activities
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I am so delighted to see that two of the presenters/organizers Vanessa Hum and Alysha Riquier at this Summit have taken what they learned as part of the TD Environmental Leaders Program (supported by Safe Wings Ottawa & the OFNC) on to other Canadian Universities. There will also be a presentation by the current BSC@UOTTAWA students on their past and current activities.
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