News: Songbirds, Swifts & Hummingbirds

[The Peregrine Chick]

Update ...

Building’s owner not liable for bird deaths, court rules
Alyshah Hasham, Toronto Star - 11 Feb 2013


The owner of a North Toronto office complex once deemed “lethal” for migrating birds will not be held liable, Ontario Court Justice Melvyn Green ruled Monday morning.

Green agreed that several hundreds of migrating birds have been killed or injured after crashing into the mirror-like windows at Cadillac Fairview’s Yonge Corporate Centre.

However, he ruled that the company did exercise “due diligence” in tackling the “untimely deaths” of birds crashing into their windows.

Despite the decision, Ecojustice lawyer Albert Koehl says the ruling in the landmark case heard last April sets the precedent they have been hoping for, opening the door for the prosecution of other companies who are not addressing the safety of migratory birds.

Under the provincial Environmental Protection Act, Cadillac Fairview was deemed responsible for “discharging a contaminant” in the form of light radiation from the reflective windows.

The birds are lured to their deaths by the illusion of a clear flight path created by the reflection of the sky and trees.

Cadillac Fairview was charged under the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

It also faced a charge under the federal Species at Risk Act related to the death of several Canada warblers and one olive-sided flycatcher, both threatened species under the act.

Only the EPA and the SARA charges were deemed valid by Green.

The company was acquitted of all charges – avoiding potentially hefty fines – because it met the requirement for due diligence.

Since the case launched, Cadillac Fairview has taken measures to make the Yonge Corporate Centre safer for the birds attracted by the wooded ravine and golf course nearby.

An innovative window film applied to part of the office complex last year has saved hundreds of birds, according to the Fatal Light Awareness Program, a Toronto non-profit organization.

A similar retrofit has been applied at a building involved in a previous lawsuit by Ecojustice against Consilium Place in Scarborough.

That lawsuit ended in defeat for Ecojustice when the court ruled that while the building had caused fatal avian collisions, the owners of the building were not actively trying to harm the birds.

Ecojustice is appealing that decision.

The City of Toronto requires all buildings constructed after 2010 to include measures to reduce bird strikes.

Story online here - http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/02/11/buildings_owner_not_liable_for_bird_deaths_court_rules.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

Ruling on Toronto Cadillac Fairview building's bird window deaths expected Monday
Toronto Metro News - 10 Feb 2013



Thud after dull thud, the birds crashed into the twinkling glass panes of the north Toronto office buildings, falling dead or crippled to the pavement.

More than 800 migrating birds met this fate between March and November 2010, argued EcoJustice lawyer Albert Koehl in a 10-day trial last April against Cadillac Fairview, the owners of the Yonge Corporate Centre at 4100, 4110 and 4120 Yonge St, near York Mills.

The reflective panes of glass mirror the trees and the sky, creating a “fatal illusion” that makes the birds think they have a clear flight path.

Cadillac Fairview faces three charges under the federal Species at Risk Act, the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The company pleaded not guilty.

A potentially precedent-setting judgment in the case is expected Monday from Ontario Judge Melvyn Green.

If there is a conviction, it means that companies can be held liable for killing birds through window strikes, says Koehl.

“There haven’t been any cases to that effect ever,” he added.

Ecojustice lost a similar lawsuit — the first of its kind in North America — in November.

While Justice of the Peace William Turtle agreed that the birds were dying at Menkes Development’s Consilium Place in Scarborough, long determined by FLAP as the deadliest building complex for birds in Toronto, he ruled that Menkes was making no active effort to harm the birds. The decision has been appealed.

“From an environmental standpoint (the upcoming decision) is crucial, quite frankly,” says Michael Mesure, executive director of the Fatal Light Awareness Program, a Toronto non-profit that educates the public about birds colliding with windows.

Even if the judge acquits Cadillac Fairview, he could still find that emitting reflective light is something that should be regulated under the Environmental Protection Act, like discharging odours or vibrations, Koehl said.

Should Cadillac Fairview be found liable, they could face hefty fines. The maximum fine under the Environmental Protection Act is $6 million per day and that OSPCA Act maximum fine is $60,000.

Despite losing the Menkes case, “we won the war,” says Mesure. Both Consilium Place (now owned by Kevric Real Estate Corporation) and the Yonge Corporate Centre have put up visual markers that warn the birds and collisions have decreased significantly, he says.

The bird film applied last summer to the Yonge Corporate Centre may have the potential to reduce bird strikes by up to 80 per cent, according to a Cadillac Fairview spokesperson.

The City of Toronto requires any building built after January 2010 to include measures to reduce bird strikes.

To see the story online - http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/544338/ruling-on-toronto-cadillac-fairview-buildings-bird-window-deaths-expected-monday/

[dodobird]

Two beautiful stories!  Thank you!

[irenekl]

Two fantastic stories.  I just love those!  Beats all those documentaries of animals in the wild violently killing eachother for some dinner.

[Kinderchick]

What a lovely story! Thanks for posting it, RCF. It reminded me of another story that I came across a few years ago about a frienship that developed between a crow and a cat. Every day, the crow would come to call on the cat, perching in a tree outside it's home, till the owners of the cat let him/her outside. Then the crow and the cat would go off for the day, hanging out and playing together, till the evening, when they would return to the cat's home.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/the-cat-and-the-crow/

[Jazzerkins]

Great story.  Thanks for sharing.  Brought a smile to my face.

[allikat]

Thank you so much for that heartwarming story, RCF!


I am truly amazed by things that happen everyday in our small world, but that story, touched my heart.  Thank you!

[RCF]

      This past spring, an Ottawa family discovered an injured baby bird in the grass near a bike path and took it home to nurse it back to health.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/09/28/ottawa-walter-the-crow.html

[Kinderchick]

Wow! What great little nestboxes!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Ingenuity in the face of renovations - and wonderful photos ...

http://www.radioactiverobins.com/swifts-oostvoorne/swifts%20on%20the%20loose%20and%20saved.htm

Netherleands - swifts - nesting colony - roof renovations ... 

[Pam]

good one RCF!

[Kinderchick]

This was great, rcf! I really enjoyed watching it. Nice little break in the middle of the day. And all the pigeon wanted was a bagel.

[eagle63_1999]

Loved it RCF lmao!!!

[The Peregrine Chick]

I loved the pigeon!! Smart I already knew - they are used for Search-and-Rescue because they can spot particular colours (rescue red/orange/yellow in particular I believe) at incredible distances and interestingly, they indicate when they have seen something by pushing buttons - so know they can do that too.  Persistent yup, no doubt about that one - this pigeon takes it to a whole other realm however!

Not sure that I will sit eating bagels on (or beside) a park bench anymore though  

Nice find RCF!

[RCF]

I thought this was very entertaining    Who knew pigeons could be so sly!

Pigeon Impossible is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=jEjUAnPc2VA#t=20