Birds play an important role in ecosystems, not only as pollinators and seed dispersers, but also as pest control agents. 

Saint-Laurent’s many natural and wetland environments, woodlands and parks are home to a wide variety of birds.

Simple things you can do at home to protect birds

Cover windows with visual markers to make them more visible to birds. To be effective, a design or pattern should be applied all over the surface and on the outside, in a colour that contrasts well with the surrounding greenery.

You can use collision avoidance products such as self-adhesive tape or dots, oil-based paint markers, etc.

Replacing your windows? Take the opportunity to choose bird-friendly patterned glass or materials designed for bird safety.

Install a feeder filled with unsalted sunflower seeds to attract birds like chickadees, blue jays, downy woodpeckers and cardinals. Clean it regularly to prevent disease.

Offer the birds a little water in a trough, but don’t overfill it, and bring it indoors before the water freezes to prevent the birds from getting wet and suffering from the cold. 

Place feeders less than one metre (1 m) from windows. This will prevent birds from gaining enough speed to strike the window suddenly as they leave the feeder.

Keep house plants as far away from windows as possible to reduce the risk of attracting birds to them.

Install outdoor screens, solar shades or shutters. 

Close blinds or curtains to reduce the view through opposite windows. However, this may eliminate the effect of transparency, but not the reflection.

To feed the birds, plant a variety of native plants, such as those that produce fruit, nectar or edible seeds.

Provide birds with evergreen or leafy trees to give them shelter.

Downsize lawns and plant trees and shrubs.

Preserve mature trees with hollow spaces, if they are not hazardous, in order to provide refuge.

Add a source of clean water, such as a birdbath or small fountain. Don’t forget to maintain it regularly, so you can offer the birds fresh water at all times.

10 actions already taken by Saint-Laurent to protect birds

• Nesting boxes and perches installed in some of the borough’s parks and green spaces
• Low-cost bird feeders for sale to residents
• Connectivity promoted between natural areas: biodiversity corridor
• Habitat management: tree inventory and forestry plan
• Snags maintained, in certain natural environments, that can be used by numerous bird species as nesting or breeding sites and food sources
• Activities adapted in order to avoid disturbing nesting sites (mowing and management of parks and natural environments)
• Planting of native plant species promoted in the borough’s natural environment restoration projects as well as in the distribution of plants to residents 
• Periodic inventory of bird life in the borough’s natural environments
• Membership in the BeeCity program to promote the protection of pollinators and their habitats
• Protection and restoration of local biodiversity