Northeast Ohio Bird Coalition - Advocacy for Safety and Habitat

 At the end of the January 2022 Kirtland Bird Club meeting a group of bird-concerned individuals and organizations met to respond to a concern about the design plan of the Sherwin Williams Headquarters - a plan that looked particularly hazardous to migratory birds.  Out of this meeting came a coalition dedicated to making Northeast Ohio more bird-friendly:  promoting bird safety and bird habitat in Northeast Ohio through collective action. 

If you are interested in joining this coalition and/or have ideas about what directions the coalition might take, please email [email protected]. 

Explore our Bird-Friendly City page to learn about possibilities for our cities.
​
Check out these aligned organizations to see what they are doing to protect birds and habitat in our area:

• Western Reserve Land Conservancy
• Cleveland Metroparks
• Lake County Metroparks
• Lorain County Metroparks
• Summit County Metroparks
• The Nature Conservancy
• West Creek Conservancy

BIRDERS SPOKE UP FOR BIRDS ... and Got Heard by City of Cleveland
​

• Based on the design plan of the Sherwin Williams Headquarters in downtown Cleveland, there was a big concern that the new building would be a mega-hazard to migratory birds.  In response to efforts by members of the NEO Bird Coalition, the Cleveland Planning Commission approved the Sherwin Williams Headquarters design, but set a contingency that required Sherwin Williams to address the concerns of our birding community and report back!  Read the story HERE.  Since the time of that story Sherwin Williams decided to include bird-safe glass solutions for windows that are expected to prevent most bird-window collisions.

References & Statistics for KBC's Bird-Safe Design Request to Sherwin Williams
​

• The Problem: 3 Billion Birds Gone (25% decline)
• Designing Buildings with Smart Bird-safe Windows, a short article about incorporating bird-friendly glass in the construction of buildings. 
• About Bird-Building Collisions
• ​After-the-fact Bird Safety Measures Taken in Cleveland & Elsewhere
  • Lights Out Cleveland - 28 buildings/companies that go dark at night during migration 
  • New York’s Javits Center – Impact of retrofitting with bird safe glass 
  • CSU Law Library - Impact of retrofitting with bird-safe glass
• Environmental impact - energy cost savings - “Etching, fritting, and frosting not only reduce the risk of bird collisions but also reduce energy costs by reducing solar heat gain (27 SHGC) and reducing cooling loads.”

Birding in Cleveland & the US
​

• 354 species of birds observed in Cuyahoga County - top 4 birding hotspots are on the Cleveland lakefront 
• 130,000 checklists have been submitted to ebird from Cuyahoga County by 5000 birders
• 45 million bird watchers nationwide 

---

​