Buildings don’t have to be hazardous to birds. There are many effective, creative and beautiful ways to design and build bird-friendly buildings without losing interior daylighting. And there can be co-benefits of energy efficiency, high quality daylighting, LEED credits and brilliant design. These design guides will help building professionals design bird-friendly buildings.
leed pilot credit
A LEED credit is available for bird friendly buildings. Find more information at the US Green Building Council Website:
SSpc 55 Bird Collision Deterrence
design guides
Several excellent design guides have been published in the past few years. These guides will help architects, interior designers, engineers and landscape architects design more bird-friendly buildings.
Bird-Friendly Building Design. 2019. American Bird conservancy and New York City Audubon (now NYC Bird Alliance).
Best practices for Bird-Friendly Glass. 2016. City of Toronto.
Best Practices for Effective Lighting. 2017. City of Toronto.
These guides are older, but still interesting:
Bird-friendly Building Design. 2015. American Bird Conservancy and New York City Audubon.
Bird-friendly Building Design, Spring 2012
San Francisco Standards for Bird-Safe Building, July 2011
New York City Bird Safe Building Guidelines, May 2007
last updated October 2024