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Fatal Light Awareness Program (F.L.A.P)

The Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) is a volunteer organization created in 1993 and based out of Toronto[1] whos foremost goal is capturing birds trapped within city centers and transporting them to wildlife areas. The program also seeks to capture injured birds and assist them in hopes of rebilitating them and releasing them into the wild. While the organization is commited to resucing and rehabilitating birds that have come into contact with buildings, FLAP is also an educational body as they seek to educate the public on the problems buildings and their lights pose to migrating birds[2] through Bird-skyscraper collisions.

A dead bird in Bucharest, the type of incident F.L.A.P hopes to educate people on and prevent

Issues FLAP Addresses

FLAP estimates that between 100 million to 1 billion birds are killed through collisions with buildings each year. During the night lights from buildings cause migrating birds to fly towards them leading to collide with the building. Additionally, FLAP states that day time bird-building encounters are even more of a threat than night time. This increased danger is caused by reflections in the windows of buildings causing migrating birds see the sky or trees but not the glass itself leading to more collisions.

This Skyscraper on Grand Avenue-LA, shows the reflection of the sky F.L.A.P mentions as being disorienting to birds.

Solutions

The organization is the first of it's kind to adress Bird-skyscraper collisions through multiple facets. The first of which being the collection of fallen birds in an attempt to rehabilitate them and release them back into the wild, as well as birds that are trapped within the city. FLAP also addresses the issue itself which is large buildings and the light they emit as well as the relections caused by the glass, by increasing public awareness on the subject. Those that contact FLAP regarding an issue are offered short term solutions as well as cost-effective ways of reducing their effect on migrating birds. The organization continues to rescue and treat injured birds, but through this education hopes to decrease the overall number of accidents each year, with these accidents accounting for billions of bird deaths annually across the world.

Research

While the bird rescue and rehabilitation, as well as education on the topic is a large part of FLAP's purpose, they also seek to prevent these types of accidents all together. By working with architects, designers, window film manufacturers, and enviromental groups, the organization seeks to create technology and techniques to prevent this collisions all together. This is not a simple task however, as these technologies and techniques need to be cost-effective and attractive to corporations in order to convince them to take measures to prevent these bird deaths.