More than two dozen conservation groups petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday to establish a permit process intended to protect birds from lethal collisions with buildings.
Citing the federal agency’s inaction on a broader Migratory Bird Treaty Act permit system, the Center for Biological Diversity joined with the St. Louis Audubon Society and 25 other organizations to urge a focus on reducing the specific dangers posed by commercial buildings.
The groups propose that the Fish and Wildlife Service require building owners to obtain permits, which could be earned by taking measures to reduce collisions such as using curtains to make glass visible to birds.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service can’t keep letting buildings kill vast numbers of birds every year when there are known solutions to this tragic problem,” Tara Zuardo, a senior advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Zuardo added that “migrating birds are crashing into walls of glass that leave them broken and dying, and federal officials have a legal duty to push for basic preventative steps.”
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, between 365 million and 988 million birds die annually from building collisions.
Birds cannot see glass as a barrier and therefore cannot avoid it. Birds are also attracted to glass when they see indoor plants or natural reflections such as clouds and trees.
“The regulation should condition permits for commercial buildings on the use of best management practices to avoid and reduce migratory bird take,” the petition states.
The petition adds that “these best management practices” may range from implementing a complete “lights out” policy at night during migration season to using tape and decals to alert birds to the presence of glass during the daytime.
The proposed permit system would apply to all commercial properties with any facade covered by more than 30 percent glass but would exclude all single-family residences.
It would be tied to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s authority under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a matter that has confounded several administrations.
The 1918 act prohibits the unauthorized taking of more than 1,100 species of migratory birds. “Take” is broadly defined as “to pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect, or attempt to pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect.”
The law does not specify, though, whether the take prohibition applies only to intentional acts or whether it also covers the unintentional, “incidental” losses like those that may occur with construction of a building.
The Trump administration’s Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule that limited the law to apply only to intentional acts. The Biden administration revoked that rule and said in October 2021 that it would initiate a migratory bird permit system, but in December 2023 the agency abruptly withdrew its proposal from White House review. The MBTA permit proposal is now slated to become public in December, according to the administration’s most recent Unified Agenda.
The Fish and Wildlife Service did not comment on the petition.
