A bird-friendly building ordinance has once again been introduced to the Chicago City Council — the second time such legislation has been brought before City Council since 2019 — but advocates fear the measure was dead on arrival.

Holding a snowy owl in his hands was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for bird rescuer Ken Reinert. It’s an experience he hopes he never has to repeat.

After a career spent largely in the shadows, Field Museum ornithologist Dave Willard is enjoying a moment in the spotlight for his contributions to conservation.

Half a billion birds will be on the move across the U.S. tonight as migration begins to hit its peak, with some 25 million expected to pass over Illinois, putting the entire state on high alert to reduce collision risks.

A Chicago City Council subject matter hearing reignited calls for an ordinance mandating bird-friendly building design requirements. “We know how to solve this, and for some reason we just haven’t,” said one speaker.

Wildlife professionals and advocates are grappling with an avian influenza outbreak that seems to be growing more virulent among Chicago's wild birds.

Chicago Bird Collision Monitors has been responding to an increase in calls for help in rescuing wild birds suffering from avian influenza.

The Chicago Plan Commission will meet Thursday to discuss approval for quantum computing campus on former South Works steel plant site. 

If the Bally’s hotel and casino on the Chicago River aren’t built with birds in mind, the question isn’t whether birds will die in collisions but how many. “It could rival the carnage at McCormick Place,” one advocate said.

Bird-friendly window film is being installed on the convention center’s approximately two football fields’ worth of glass. Work on the $1.2 million project began in early June and is expected to take approximately three months.

Spring migration is still weeks away from reaching its peak in Chicago and already the tiny body bags are piling up, filled with birds killed in collisions with the city’s glass buildings.

In mid-April, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development is set to release an update to the city’s sustainable development policy. No section of the policy will make bird-friendly design mandatory.

Monday’s meeting of the McPier board was dominated by discussion of the mass death of 1,000 birds in a single day, killed after colliding with McCormick Place. Bird conservationists want a solution in place by spring migration.

While the full tally of dead will never be known, wildlife advocates are certain of one thing: The vast majority of bird losses in the past week were preventable.

Chicago is one of the deadliest cities for migrating birds and Thursday’s “insane abundance of migratory action” led to “insane mortality,” birders said. The remedy is as simple as flipping off a light switch.

Millions of birds will pass over the Chicago region this weekend as migration kicks into high gear. Want to be a good host? Turn off your lights.