A uncommon fowl was noticed in Ottawa for the primary time. It hit a window

Article content material

A uncommon western tanager, the primary ever recorded within the City of Ottawa, wowed birders and nature lovers who adopted it because it spent the winter in McCarthy Woods in Hunt Club.

The wayward tanager, which breeds in Canada in B.C., Alberta and components of Saskatchewan, would usually spend its winters in Mexico and Central America. But with the assistance of volunteers, it thrived in its snowy winter home right here within the capital.

Article content material

Article content material

That is, till the primary week of spring.

The Visitor

They referred to as him Sunny.

“He was such a bright yellow. We don’t have many yellow birds here in the winter,” mentioned Janette Niwa of Safe Wings Ottawa.

A resident who lived close to the west finish of McCarthy Woods close to Hunt Club and Riverside first seen the bizarre yellow fowl in late November. Soon, alerts went out on e-bird and i-naturalist, two well-known on-line databases and social community apps. Birders flocked to the woodlot for a glimpse of the uncommon customer.

“It was pretty popular in the birding world,” Niwa mentioned. “They had people coming in from Quebec. They had people taking road trips to see it. Definitely it was a very big thing.”

Rare fowl sightings can set off a frenzy. Enter Aaron Hywarren, a “rare bird ambassador” with the Ontario Field Ornithologists, who helped shield the fowl and guard the privateness of householders, cautious of birders with spotter scopes and telephoto lenses lurking round their property.

At first, Hywarren checked on the fowl’s well-being and liaised with neighbours. When January got here and curiosity ramped up from birders trying so as to add the tanager to their annual record, Hywarren stepped up his sport. He arrange feeders within the woods to lure Sunny deeper into the bushes and away from properties.

Article content material

During chilly snaps he visited Sunny every day, monitoring the fowl’s well being and making certain the feeders have been stocked.

Though the winter was unusually delicate, there have been nonetheless brutal chilly snaps for a fowl that usually winters in Mexico or Central America.

“It worked really well,” he mentioned. “The bird settled in on the feeders. Folks didn’t have to go close to backyards and the neighbours.” 

Most importantly, Sunny was thriving, Hywarrend mentioned. “It’s because of folks spending time, maintaining the feeders. Donating food. Donating their time.”

‘Rest in peace you little ray of sunshine’

Alas, Sunny’s premature finish was not a results of the chilly, however somewhat that nemesis for birds all over the place: Glass.

On March 23, Sunny struck a window on the home of the very individuals who first noticed him 4 months earlier than.

“This little Tanager left a lasting impression with some of his antics, fending off his favourite Suet (which I like to call Aaron’s Berry mix) from woodpeckers and giving you that spunky stare when you were refilling the feeders but it wasn’t fast enough for his liking,” wrote one admirer in an April 4th Facebook submit asserting Sunny’s demise.

Article content material

“Rest in peace you little ray of sunshine.”

Hywarren posted a extra official demise discover a number of hours later, noting that some 600 folks had managed to see the fowl. He thanked the neighbours and volunteers who had labored onerous to strive to make sure the fowl’s survival. Sunny, he famous, had been donated to the Royal Ontario Museum’s assortment.

“My big fear was not a window strike. In fact, it was probably No. 3 on my list of worries,” Hywarren mentioned. “No. 1 was making it through the winter. No. 2 was predators. It was a bright yellow and black bird against a very drab Ottawa winter background and it stuck out like a sore thumb.”

Twice, Hywarren watched Sunny evade a swooping hawk. There have been additionally cats prowling the woods, an infinite danger to birds.

The owners who discovered Sunny have been saddened by the demise, Hywarren mentioned. They declined to be interviewed for this story,

“It’s upsetting to find a dead bird. It doesn’t matter if it’s a crow or a pigeon or something beautiful like this. I know pretty much everyone who learned of the bird’s passing was upset. Such a wonderful, brightly coloured visitor shows up, makes it through the winter….”

Article content material

The Threat

Safe Wings Ottawa estimates greater than 250,000 birds are killed in Ottawa annually by window strikes — an estimate based mostly on one fowl strike demise per 12 months per residence. Nationally, it’s estimated that wherever from 16 million to 42 million birds die annually in window strikes in Canada.

“Birds don’t understand windows at all,” Niwa mentioned. “There’s just no natural equivalent of a vertical transparent or reflective thing like a window. They see whatever is on the other side of it. If you have a walkway with windows on either side, they see the trees on the other side. If it’s reflective, they see the trees that are reflected.”

Surprisingly, it’s residences and low-rise buildings that account for many fowl collisions. A 2014 Audobon research in New York discovered residences three storeys or much less accounted for 44 per cent of deadly fowl strikes, buildings of 4-11 storeys accounted for 56 per cent, and excessive rises of 12 storeys or extra claimed lower than one per cent.

The motive is that there are considerably extra homes within the metropolis than tall buildings. And birds spend most of their time flying near the bottom.

Article content material

“Most people don’t realize or they don’t accept that their house windows are a danger for birds,” Niwa mentioned.

“During COVID, the number of calls we got for bird collisions jumped up massively,” she mentioned. “People were so upset and said ‘This is the first time it’s ever happened.’ The reality is that people were at home more and it was really just the first time they’d noticed it.”

That’s to not say glass-clad towers aren’t an issue. Niwa websites Centennial Towers at 200 Kent St., home to the Tax Court and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, as a serious offender.

“That is our nemesis. From our monitoring, that is the worst building in Ottawa. Our estimates is that the building kills 7,000 birds annually,” she mentioned.

The Solution

The gold normal for limiting window strikes is to put in an array of decals that disrupt the reflection and that birds can see. The decals need to be intently spaced — Feather Friendly, one producer of the decals — recommends spacing not more than 5 cm aside. And they need to be utilized to the surface of the glass to interrupt up the reflection.

Niwa cites the home windows on the remodelled National Arts Centre as an excellent intentioned, however ineffective remedy. The designer put the decals on the within floor.

Article content material

“The NAC was very forward thinking and they requested that whatever was built be bird-friendly. But Ottawa, at the time, didn’t have standards so they modified it to make it look prettier. And that’s one of the places where we find a lot of dead birds,” she mentioned.

But she had reward for the National Capital Commission.

“The NCC have been an amazing supporter and partner with Safe Wings. They were one of the earliest organizations that started treating their buildings, even before Ottawa had standards in place.”

The STEM building at uOttawa is one other building that’s bird-friendly, utilizing UV-coated glass to scale back the reflection.

The City of Ottawa adopted its personal bird-safe design guidelines in 2020. It recommends the place and the way home windows ought to be handled, suggests the right way to keep away from fowl “traps” and gives recommendation on exterior lighting to keep away from attracting birds.

“The problem is that they are just guidelines. No developer has to follow them,” Niwa mentioned. “For any construction company that’s running behind time or behind budget, the first thing that’s going to slide is anything that’s just a guideline. They’re the first things to go and the last things to be added.”

Article content material

She’s hopeful that town’s new high-performance building normal will add extra enamel to rules for bird-proof buildings.

What you are able to do

Feather Friendly tape is efficient, however costly. A 30-metre roll prices about $25 and covers 1.5 sq. metres of window. A less expensive answer for do-it-yourselfers is to tie lengths of wire to a dowel that may be hung throughout the highest of the window body so the wire dangles down over the glass. You may use markers on the outside floor, though the impact received’t be everlasting.

Stickers within the define of a hawk and the favored plastic owls don’t work, Niwa mentioned.

“The owl is not moving. It’s not a threat. I put out an owl to scare the squirrels away from my porch and they just ignore it.”

Window screens additionally break up the reflection and may act as slightly security cushion for birds that do fly into them.

Other easy measures: Turn off the room lights at evening if the sunshine’s not wanted. Birds migrate at evening and are drawn to mild. Move crops away from home windows: A fowl will see the greenery via the window and fly to it if threatened. Move fowl feeders near the window, a metre away or much less. It makes for higher viewing and a startled fowl who flies into the glass received’t have picked up sufficient pace to be injured (though a feeder close to the home additionally dangers attracting mice and rats to your own home.)

Article content material

The spring and fall migrations are particularly dangerous instances for window strikes, she mentioned.

“Sunny is a really sad story,” she mentioned. “Everyone loved this bird. But he draws attention to the fact it is important to treat your windows. Even if you have only one area that you can reach and treat, that’s better than having no areas treated.”

Would window remedies have saved Sunny? Hywarren isn’t certain. He suspects the tanager was being pursued by a predator when it hit the window.

“There were 81 dwellings nearby. How can you possibly treat all those windows?” he mentioned. “Would window dressing have helped? Maybe. Who knows?”

Hywarren prefers to dwell on the positives.

“It’s unfortunate that the bird succumbed in this way, but several hundred people got to enjoy the bird. It was photographed. One person even painted it. It brought so much happiness to folks.”

Our web site is your vacation spot for up-to-the-minute information, so make sure that to bookmark our homepage and join our newsletters so we will preserve you knowledgeable.

Article content material