Bird Safe Philly and the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) are the recipients of a grant entitled, “Increasing connectivity for migratory birds in the Delaware watershed by reducing bird collisions”. This three-year grant will provide nearly $500,000 to Bird Safe Philly and partners efforts to educate and mitigate for bird collisions with glass through 2028.
This grant builds on Bird Safe Philly’s five-year achievement of supporting retrofit projects at various sites such as Sister Cities Café in Logan Circle, Briar Bush Nature Center, Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust, Pennypack and Wissahickon Environmental Education Centers, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Fox Chase Farm, Andorra Public Library, and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. The WMI cited Bird Safe Philly’s work as a key component that aligned with NFWF’s Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund strategic program area priorities. Key leaders of Bird Safe Philly worked closely with WMI to develop the successful grant proposal.
The grant will support and expand “Lights Out Philly,” now in its fifth year with over 200 buildings participating in the greater Philadelphia area and New Jersey. This program encourages buildings to turn off or reduce exterior lighting at night during spring and fall migration. Scientists have documented that lights attract migratory birds into highly illuminated urban and suburban areas where they are at increased risk for collision.
Bird Safe Philly will work with key partners in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. The three Audubon Chapters—Honey Hollow Nature Center, Liberty Bird Alliance, and Valley Forge Audubon Society—are key contacts. Additionally, nearly sixty Bird Town Pennsylvania municipalities will play a vital role as we develop an application process to prioritize buildings for retrofit projects over the next three years.
Bird Safe Philly is a coalition of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Audubon MidAtlantic, Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, Liberty Bird Alliance, and the Valley Forge Audubon Society, formed in response to a mass collision event on October 2, 2020, where over 1,500 migratory birds were killed during fall migration in the city of Philadelphia. This all volunteer partnership aims to understand and prevent bird collisions around the greater Philadelphia region through collision monitoring, Lights Out, Bird Safe Schools and retrofitting projects. The Wildlife Management Institute, founded in 1911, is a private, not for profit (501(c)(3)), scientific, and educational organization dedicated to the conservation, enhancement, and professional management of North America’s wildlife and other natural resources.
For more information or follow up to this press release, contact Leigh Altadonna and Stephanie Egger at Bird Safe Philly, birdsafephilly@gmail.com; and Angela Tringali, The Wildlife Management Institute at Atringali@wildlifemgt.org. More information about Bird Safe Philly can be found at: www.birdsafephilly.org.
