New research that estimates 269 million birds are killed across Canada every year by cats, window and vehicle collisions, and industrial activity have conservation groups calling on Canadians and governments to stop the slaughter.
According to articles in the September issue of Environment Canada’s journal Avian Conservation and Ecology, feral and domestic cat predation is the top human-related cause of bird deaths, followed by flying into windows in houses and buildings, and collisions with vehicles.
Altogether, these account for 95 per cent of bird deaths.
Other causes include electrical power collisions (transmission lines, wind turbines), harvesting and agricultural pesticides, fisheries, oil and gas, mining, forestry and communication towers.
About 90 per cent of the birds killed each year fall under the protection of the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act.
Ted Cheskey, manager of bird conservation programs with Nature Canada, said there are about 10 billion birds in Canada and 200 to 300 million die annually from human-related activities.
When it comes to cat predation, 40 per cent of the killing is done by domestic cats, he said.
Nature Canada says simply keeping cats indoors around dusk and dawn could help cut down on the number of birds killed.
Municipal and other governments could also adopt measures for better building standards for developers, muting reflective surfaces by angling glass or adding awnings or overhangs, reducing light pollution and providing visual markers to help prevent birds from colliding with windows.
“There are lots of things that can be done to mitigate that problem — the location of buildings, the type of glass used and how reflective it is, vegetation and how close it is to dangerous places for birds. Even how close a bird feeder is to a big reflective window can make a big difference,” Cheskey said.
Climate change is allowing hay to be harvested sooner but some birds are still nesting in the fields when the combines come through, he said.
“The birds are in there and the nests are destroyed. It’s actually having a big impact on some grassland birds,” Cheskey said.
Todd Nivens, program co-ordinator at Kerry Wood Nature Centre, said birds in Central Alberta face the same threats as birds elsewhere.
“We have wetland drainage. We have oil and gas activity. We have subdivisions encroaching on wild spaces, which leads to habitat loss and increased bird strikes into windows. But the big issue is cats, especially for small song birds,” Nivens said.
He said the City of Red Deer does a fairly good job of maintaining wildlife corridors, and saving tree growth and wetlands as much as possible.
For example, even though a wetland was eliminated during the development of Southbrook subdivision, a wetland on the north side of the neighbourhood was constructed to replace it, he said.
“The animals that depend on wetland habitat, this critical habitat, they still have that habitat. Are natural wetlands better? Probably. But a constructed wetland is a good substitute and you’re seeing more of them.
“(The city) is designing with wildlife in mind, especially with the new emerging subdivisions, as there is more knowledge out there about animals and the way animals move around.”
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com