A seagull flies past a residential building near the bay. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
In 2011, San Francisco was the first city to create building codes to protect birds. But bird advocates say the city should consider an update.
Why it matters: San Francisco’s bird-safe building code only regulates buildings that border large parks or open spaces where birds congregate, or those with specific facades. Recent regulations elsewhere focus on the broader urban environment.
What you say: “It was the first, but it’s not up to our standards,” Golden Gate Audubon executive director Glenn Phillips told Axios, adding that although supporters celebrated its passing, “we all knew it wasn’t really good.” was enough. “
Zoom in: We are right in the middle of the spring migration season when more than 250 species of birds normally pass through San Francisco.
- San Francisco’s Lights Out program, which encourages building owners to turn off their lights during migration season, has few participants.
Context: “It’s not like birds crashing into a lighted building,” says Phillips. The general glow of the city is the culprit, he says, confusing the birds’ navigation and causing flocks to land in urban areas where they have a higher chance of crashing into windows.
- The big solution is to swap out the windows so the birds can see them. This can be as simple as installing outdoor screens.
Game Status: In the 12 years since San Francisco passed its bird-safe building ordinance, Oakland, Alameda and Emeryville have followed suit. Now, according to Audubon, Berkeley is considering a measure that would go further than any other by requiring that new windows in all buildings over two stories must be birdproof.
- Berkeley is also investigating a “Dark Skies” ordinance that would regulate the direction the lights shine, as well as their color and power.
- 19 states plus Washington, DC have laws regulating light pollution. Dark sky advocates in California have so far failed to enact a similar measure statewide.
Between the lines: Birding data from the popular app eBird shows that most birds are spotted in San Francisco’s green spaces.
- But in the past month, 72 species have been spotted in Jefferson Square Park and 53 in the Yerba Buena Gardens near Union Square.
The big picture: Improving green spaces, even in urban areas, can also help birds. Point Blue Conservation Science, formerly Point Reyes Bird Observatory, monitored species recovery following habitat restoration at the Presidio and found significant population increases in half of the species surveyed.
- “Relatively small restoration areas” in urban areas “can be really successful” for birds, the group’s lead ecologist Kristen Dybala tells Axios.
Remarkable: Cats still kill more birds than buildings, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
what we observe: The birds! Phillips is excited to see his first hooded warbler this spring. He calls their yellow faces and black-crowned heads “super cute” and their activity very lively.
- “They are constantly busy chasing small insects. They don’t stop moving. So they’re a lot of fun. And we really only see them in migration.”
