The deadly night in October of 2023 during which almost 1,000 birds crashed into the glass walls of McCormick Place remains one of the most sad and tragic events to befall our city in recent memory. The carnage roused the region’s conservation groups, civic leaders, and ordinary citizens to mobilize. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Field Museum, and Chicago Bird Collision Monitors negotiated a solution with McCormick Place to install bird-safe film on the Convention Center windows in a $1.2 million investment—all in time for fall migration.
The good news is good indeed: only 18 dead birds were found this fall at McCormick Place. This represents a 90% decrease in bird fatalities, according to Dave Willard of the Field Museum, writing in the Chicago Tribune. The bird-safe film has a series of small dots that help birds recognize that the reflections they see in the glass are not through passages. Let’s celebrate this small victory and hope it sets a standard for other buildings throughout the city and for the ongoing efforts to enact ordinances mandating bird-friendly building design.