Bird-Friendly San Diego
Urban areas support more than people, they actually provide habitat for over 250 species of resident and migratory birds too. Our urban canyons, coastal lagoons, bays, and parks are just some of the places within metro San Diego that birds depend on. You can help make San Diego an even better place for birds by planting native plants in your backyard, implementing bird collision prevention measures at your home or office, or by getting involved in habitat restoration projects in your community.
sunset gull
Reducing Bird Collisions
An estimated 1 billion birds are killed each year by window collisions in the United States. This makes collisions with windows the second largest manmade threat to birds after habitat loss. During spring and fall migration, the risk of collision is even greater as hundreds of thousands of night migrating songbirds such as warblers, thrushes, vireos, and tanagers pass through San Diego, along the Pacific Flyway, to and from breeding and wintering grounds. Nighttime urban lighting has been shown to create especially hazardous conditions to nocturnally migrating birds, especially during periods of inclement weather when low visibility causes migrants to fly at lower altitudes where buildings are located. Nighttime migrants such as song birds can easily become confused, disoriented, and suffer injury or death as a result of exhaustion, predation, or lethal collision. San Diego Audubon is collaborating with the San Diego Zoo to raise awareness of the problem and to provide solutions for reducing bird collisions.
Learn more at the American Bird Conservancy's site.
Download ABC’s collisions brochure: You Can Save Birds From Flying into Your Windows.
Audubon at Home: Gardening for Wildlife
Did you know you can make a meaningful contribution to bird conservation and environmental health right in your own backyard? The Audubon at Home program encourages residents, businesses, and schools to grow drought tolerant native plants and use sustainable landscaping techniques that will benefit birds by providing them with habitat.
San Diego Audubon encourages you to create a little bit of natural California landscape by integrating native plants into your yard and garden that will attract birds and butterflies. In 2006, SDAS was awarded a seed grant from Audubon California to develop a healthy garden/backyard habitat outreach program. The program, which has a distinctly California flavor, is now in its fifth year and continues to be a success. This program has resulted in the creation of a brochure and workshop series aimed at providing participants with the knowledge they need to create their own wildlife-friendly landscape. Both informational presentations and hands-on training workshops are offered regularly.
Audubon at Home, Gardening for Birds and Butterflies brochure
Learn more at Audubon California's Audubon at Home site.
San Diego Flyway Cities Coalition
San Diego Audubon is the local coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation's Flyway Cities Coalition program. The coalition consists of over 25 local organizations working together to increase the quality and quantity of wildlife habitat within the San Diego metro area. The coalition is also working to engage a wider, more diverse audience in activities that benefit urban flyway habitats.
See the San Diego Flyway Cities Coalition website for more details. Look for us on Facebook.