A recent story in The Dallas Morning News about birds and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center highlights a tremendous opportunity for our city: designing bird-friendly architecture to welcome millions of people and help protect the countless birds that travel through our region each year.
Dallas is one of the country’s most important cities for birds because it sits at the heart of nature’s migration superhighway, the Central Flyway. This week, colorful gems like yellow warblers, Baltimore orioles and summer tanagers are coming down from the skies to rest and refuel here on their way to the tropics.
Already this season, 77.5 million birds have passed through the Dallas-Fort Worth region, according to live migration maps from BirdCast.
On September 24, 20.3 million birds flew over the metroplex on a single night! By the end of fall migration, a staggering number, 189 million on average, are expected to fly through.
Opinion
But Dallas is also one of the nation’s top three most dangerous cities for birds and window strikes, alongside Chicago and Houston. Scientists estimate that window collisions kill more than 1 billion birds each year in the U.S. It’s a terrible toll given that birds are rapidly declining, with more than one in four gone from the U.S. and Canada since 1970, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.
Within Dallas, the area around the convention center is already a bird collision hotspot, with 30% of fatal strikes recorded there, out of more than 3,000 logged here in seasonal surveys since 2021. The renderings from the convention center expansion master plan show the new facility will have more glass than the current building, a formula for even more fatalities.
Fortunately, bird-friendly solutions have proven remarkably effective, whether by reducing the amount of glass or using specialized glass treatments. When Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center installed protective film on its windows, bird collisions dropped by 95%.
The Javits Center in New York City reduced collisions by 90% and saved more than $2 million on heating and cooling costs from 2013 to 2017, using bird-friendly materials and upgrades. Glass with ceramic markings, or frits, increased visibility to birds and served as insulation to save energy.
Local efforts to incorporate bird-safe glass include Cedar Hill’s new Traphene Hickman Library. More than a year since opening, the building has recorded just one bird collision, as noted in the News article.
Birds are beautiful in their own right, but they’re also essential to our ecosystems, controlling pests and distributing native plant seeds. Birding tourism contributes to Texas’s economy.
Millions of people benefit from the joy and wellness that come with birdwatching and time outdoors. The groundswell of support for a bird-friendly convention center in Dallas is a testament to the love and value that people feel for our city and for birds.
Truly, Dallas is a vital hub for business and for birds. Bird-safe design will elevate both, showcasing innovative development while protecting birds and our natural heritage. The investment in bird-safe features will pay dividends in environmental stewardship and civic pride for decades to come.
As we design what will become the gateway to North Texas for millions of visitors, let’s seize this opportunity to create a landmark that reflects our values and vision for the future. A bird-safe convention center would showcase Dallas’ leadership as a city of big ideas and meaningful action. Let’s add “bird-friendly” to our achievements and show the world that in Dallas, innovation and conservation go hand in hand.
Deedie Rose is a local philanthropist, environmental conservationist and mental health advocate. She spends her time leading the board for the Trinity Park Conservancy, with years of experience across dozens of other nonprofit endeavors in North Texas.