TorontoPlanning ApplicationsPlanning guidelines

Bird-Friendly Best Practices Glass

Published by City of Toronto

This is the City of Toronto’s document, as published on its website on 20 October 2026. The municipality may have changed it since: check the current version at the source. Legal notice

Type: Document
Published by: City of Toronto
Date: July 2016
Also called: Best Practices for Bird-Friendly Glass
For: designer
Building types: All building types
Pages: 54
Instruments: Toronto Green Standard · City of Toronto Act, 2006 · Environmental Protection Act · Species at Risk Act

Overview

The City of Toronto City Planning manual that supports the bird collision deterrence measures in the Toronto Green Standard, written with the Fatal Light Awareness Program and architect John Robert Carley. Fifty-four pages set out why glass kills birds, the properties of glass and the building features that raise collisions, then the treatments — visual markers at 100 mm spacing, low reflectance and opaque materials, awnings, screens and grilles — with worked compliance illustrations for Tier 1. An appendix summarises the collision research and the Ontario legal context.

What it covers

What is the Problem? Dead Birds
Leadership in Bird-Friendly Design
Why a Best Practices Manual?
Ontario Legal Context
The Cause: Light and Glass
Why is the Problem Getting Worse?
Growth of Cities
Expanded Use of Glass in Architecture
The Problem: Glass
Properties of Glass
Transparency
Building Features that Impact Bird Collisions
Building Envelope
Design to Eliminate Fly-Through Conditions
Awnings and Overhangs
Exterior Screens, Grilles, Shutters and Sunshades
Creating Visual Markers
Opaque and Translucent Glass
UV Glass (or Similar Products)
Low Reflectance Glass
Ineffective Strategies
Municipal Buildings
Compliance Strategies (TGS Tier 1)
Appendix
Magnitude of Collision Deaths
Patterns of Mortality
Birds and Night Time Light Pollution
Landscaping and Vegetation
References

Check this against the municipality before you rely on it.

DocHub collects what a municipality published; it cannot tell you what is in force today. A newer version may exist, may be titled differently, or may not be posted publicly at all.