Project Safe Flight Information Session (8/17)

Help NYC Audubon study the causes of bird collisions and ways to prevent them by becoming a Project Safe Flight (PSF) volunteer this fall. Through our research, we estimate up to a quarter million birds perish due to collisions with buildings in NYC each year. PSF was started by a few dedicated volunteers in 1997 to protect these migrating birds, many of which are rare or endangered. Continuing every year since then, PSF enlists dozens of volunteers to patrol the streets of New York City in the early morning during spring and autumn migration periods in search of dead and injured birds that have collided with buildings. 

Injured birds are brought to animal care centers for rehabilitation. Dead birds are collected and transferred to various natural history museums and research institutions. All the collected birds (dead or injured) are entered into our database, providing a powerful tool for understanding the geography and dynamics of urban bird collisions. PSF data was instrumental in convincing the New York City Council to unanimously pass Lights Out NYC legislation Int. 271 & 274 in December of 2021 and in the introduction of the Dark Skies Act Protection Act in the New York Legislature in January of 2022!
 

This fall, we are expanding to have at least one monitoring route in each of the five boroughs! Learn more about our program, how you can protect and conserve birds in urban spaces, and how to get involved as a volunteer by signing up for one of our online information sessions. Attendance at an Information Session is required for new volunteers to be scheduled for monitoring this fall.

Photo: A stunned Chestnut-sided Warbler rests in the hand of a Project Safe Flight volunteer. Credit: Sophie Butcher