Bird Friendly Initiative

The Bird Friendly London team had a busy year. With the help of the Eco-Grant funding from Nature London an ambitious list of events and programs were undertaken. The list below while not exhaustive gives a good sample of the activities undertaken. The funding received through the Nature London Eco-Grants program enabled many of these initiatives.

City bird art contest was held in September of 2021 which resulted in dozens of Cardinal themed submissions. Three winners were chosen by a panel of judges.
Participated in Global Bird Rescue Sept 27 – Oct 3, 2021, where a total of 99 bird window collisions were documented
Held an accessible birdwatching outing on Oct 24, 2021, as part of Birdability week
Celebration at London Brewing Co-op Wednesday November 17, 2021, to launch the city bird beer the Northern Cardin-ale and celebrate London’s certification as a bird friendly city. The cans featured the art of Beth Stewart who was one of the art contest’s winners
Designed printed and sold a 1000-piece puzzle featuring photographs of local birds
Binoculars were purchased and donated to the Thing Library to remove barriers for people interested in starting to birdwatch
On March 25, 2022, held a virtual presentation – An Evening with Joe Pitawanakwat on the indigenous taxonomy of birds and naming of birds Anishinaabe language
Held the Bird Friendly Spring Migration Festival from Thursday May 5 to Sunday May 8 in conjunction with the London Public Library and Nature London. Events included twelve guided birdwatching hikes lead by Nature London members, a kickoff event a Wolf Hall, a retrofit of windows at the Museum of Ontario Archeology and another Bird Friendly beer launch at the London Brewing Co-op.
Started a new initiative – Lights Out London which encouraged London businesses and households to turn off unneeded lights after dark. The focus was the week of May 13-19, 2022, which coincided with world Migratory Bird Day on May 14. An application was submitted to the City of London through Nature London to turn off exterior-coloured lights on city buildings at this time. This was approved.
Received at grant from Nature Canada which was used to encourage bird feeding and planting of native plants
Commissioned an artist to design a pamphlet in the form of a graphic story explaining why cats should not be allowed to roam freely. This was distributed to local veterinarians and some pet supply stores
Supported more window retrofits at Western University and Fanshawe college Continued to develop the website with more species profiles and a section on where to go birdwatching in London
Regular blog posts on website about various topics related to birds and conservation. Social media – Facebook and Instagram were used to publicize these posts
Continued to advocate at City Hall and with provincial politicians about the need for bylaws and legislation to increase the installation of bird friendly glass in new construction

Stacey Jaczko
Bird Friendly London Board Liaison
Member Bird Friendly London