Nature NB sees proposed Fredericton building as threat to birds

The construction of a proposed office building in Fredericton poses a danger to bird populations in the city, says the executive director of Nature NB.

Vanessa Roy-McDougall said glass buildings, such as the one Ross Ventures Ltd. plans to build on the corner of Brunswick and Carleton streetsand says will be "Fredericton's sexiest building,"can confuse birds as they areflying.

"If it is reflecting the environment around it then it would be a major threat to birds passing by," she said.

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"They wouldn't see the building, they would just think that they could go right through and I would expect there to be a lot of collisions along a building of that size," she said.

They wouldn't see the building, they would just think that they could go right through.- VanessaRoy-McDougall, Nature NB

Collisions with buildings are the cause of more than 30-million bird fatalities a year in Canada, said Roy-McDougall.

A building like the one planned byRoss Venturescould cause a lot deaths and injury during migration, as New Brunswick is on the Atlantic flyway and millions of birds travel through the area every year, she said.

Ross Ventures responds

Jeff Yerxa, thepresident and chief executive officer ofRoss Ventures,said the company hasn't taken steps to mitigate the problem yet.

"There's a lot of glass buildings in the world and I don't know that bird strikes are as big a problem as some of those comments [on the CBC website] have led people to believe," said Yerxa.

"But certainly we like our birds in Fredericton and if we foresee a problem we'll take appropriate measures to see thatthey're protected."

Roy-McDougall said there are ways to protect birds from the colliding with buildings, including a certain type film that can reduce the reflection of the glass and by dimming or turning off lights at night.