The City has produced two documents that support the application of the Toronto Green Standard (TGS) “Bird Collision Deterrence” and “Light Pollution” performance measures, both of which are required as part of Tier 1 of the TGS.
You can now view Best Practices for Bird-Friendly Glass and Best Practices for Effective Lighting.
These are companion documents to the original Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines that build and expand on the City’s original work. As we have learned much since the original guidelines were developed and strategies and technologies have changed, these two documents supersede the information found in the original guidelines.
In 2007, the original Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines offered a groundbreaking comprehensive list of strategies to make new and existing buildings less dangerous to migratory birds. The guidelines were developed with the participation of architects, development corporations, property management corporations, bird advocacy groups and City staff. The final product was a very informative, beautiful and award-winning document. It greatly assisted in drawing attention to the need to mitigate the dangers the urban environment poses to migrating birds and demonstrated how we can all play a role in reducing migratory bird deaths. Since 2007, this work has been copied by several cities across North America demonstrating Toronto’s leadership in this key environmental policy area.