Bird-Friendly Squamish

Stewardship activities, community engagement and policy initiatives promote habitat protection and reduce threats to birds.

Mission

To achieve Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly City certification for Squamish by working with the municipality and community partners to reduce threats to birds; protect and restore habitat, strengthen climate resilience, and engage the community through outreach and education.

Why is this important?

Birds face many threats that endanger their survival, including habitat loss, invasive species, diseases, toxins, predation by cats, and collisions with windows. As a result, North American bird populations have declined by over 25% in the last 50 years. Some of these threats are easily prevented.

Window strikes alone kill an estimated 16–42 million birds annually in Canada, with about 90% occurring at individual homes. Outdoor cats are the second-leading cause of bird deaths, while choices in parks and home gardens—such as pesticide use, mowing, and tree removal—can harm birds, destroy nests and reduce vital food and shelter.

How are we contributing?

Window Strike Monitoring and Mitigation

Our bird strike monitoring program encourages the community to report bird–glass collisions using the Global Bird Collision Mapper. We have installed prevention markers on windows and railings at high-risk commercial and residential properties and are working to expand these measures by promoting best practices across the community.

Education and Awareness

Our school programs have raised awareness about the use of ‘catios’ to reduce cat predation and window markers to prevent bird-glass collisions, and our Bird Friendly Squamish events engage the community in bird appreciation and conservation.

Collaboration for Community Change

Our Bird Friendly team is working with municipal staff and the community to implement changes that reduce threats to birds and bird habitat, following Nature Canada’s guidance.

Volunteer Opportunities

Year-round: Join our Bird Friendly Squamish (BFS) team, help organize or volunteer at BFS events, or participate in our Bird Strike Monitoring Program.

There are many ways to get involved, big or small, to help make our community more bird-friendly.

Learn More

Questions about this program?

Reach out to our Program Coordinator

Claudia Cridge

birdfriendly@naturesquamish.ca

Who are we working with?

Our Bird Friendly Team includes individuals, representatives from other community organizations, and District of Squamish staff.

District of Squamish Community Enhancement Grants have supported our World Migratory Bird Day events and the installation of Feather Friendly decals on glass railings. We are engaging with staff on policy initiatives and actions to reduce threats and conserve habitat.

A Squamish Community Foundation Annual Grant helped launch our long-term, community-led window strike monitoring program, support school workshops on window strike prevention, and retrofit homes and businesses with Feather Friendly decals.

Students from local schools have participated in workshops and taken action to reduce cat predation and window strikes.

Our program began in fall 2022 with a focus on monitoring and preventing bird strikes. We surveyed collisions with windows and other large glass surfaces to identify high-risk buildings and locations, the species most affected, and when strikes are most likely to occur.

Survey results indicated that glass railings pose a significant threat, especially during migration. Birds can’t see the glass and attempt to fly through it.

With support from a District of Squamish Community Enhancement Grant and help from volunteers, we applied Feather Friendly decals to glass railings along the Mamquam Blind Channel. The black dots, spaced no more than 5 cm apart—the maximum gap most birds won’t fly through—make the glass more visible and help prevent collisions. We hope this demonstration project inspires homeowners and property owners to adopt similar bird-friendly solutions.

Following this, we worked with Grade 8 students from École Les Aiglons to construct a catio, as part of their project about protecting birds in the Sea to Sky Region. The students later auctioned the catio at the Squamish Farmers’ Market, further raising awareness of cat predation solutions.

Ongoing outreach activities include:

Working with schools to teach students about bird–glass collisions and how they can help prevent them
Work parties to install Feather Friendly decals at vulnerable properties
Promoting bird-friendly design practices for new developments
Encouraging individuals to monitor high risk buildings and report of bird–glass collisions using the Global Bird Collision Mapper
Hosting an annual Bird Festival, with engaging, educational activities that celebrate birds and their conservation

Achieving Bird Friendly certification is a multi-step process that will take time and community-wide effort. We invite you to join the Bird Friendly Squamish team and help us reach this goal.