Save money, save energy, help the environment and gain valuable public relations opportunities for your company, all while saving migratory birds – join WIngs!

Bird watching is the second fastest-growing hobby in America.  In fact, about one-third of U.S. households feed birds in their yard. That translates into spending a total of about $3 billion on related supplies each year.  However, the bird population is declining because it is estimated that between 100 million and one billion migratory birds die annually as a result of window collisions in North America!

To help save birds from window collisions, businesses in Wisconsin are encouraged to join the Wisconsin Humane Society's WIngs (Wisconsin Night Guardians for Songbirds) program and register as a Bird Safe Building. The purpose of WIngs is to help protect night-migrating songbirds by getting owners, managers and tenants of tall buildings to turn out their lights between designated hours during peak migration periods in spring and fall. Milwaukee is the only major city in North America besides New York, Chicago and Toronto with a local program in place to save migratory birds from window collisions.

There are many benefits for businesses to become a Bird Safe Building, such as saving thousands of dollars on lighting costs. Some building managers in Toronto's bird collision-reduction program report saving $200,000 annually on their lighting expenses! Another benefit is that less energy used results in reduced CO2 production – which is great for the environment – and thus is a “green” strategy that can actually improve your bottom line and your public image.

Here are some ways owners, managers and tenants can make their building bird-safe:

·   Minimize or preferably extinguish night lighting (lighting visible through exterior windows and vanity lighting) between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. during peak migration periods, September and October as well as mid-March through May.

·   When lighting is necessary, utilize motion detectors to control lights.

·   Reschedule night cleaning to reduce the amount of time lights are needed.

·   Re-program timers to fit hours of operation and cleaning.

·   Reduce perimeter lighting.

·   Install Whispering Windows static window clings, CollidEscape anti-reflective window-film, or Bird Screens on lower-level windows to reduce daytime window collisions.

·   Install lower-intensity lighting.

·   At night, move activities requiring light to interior rooms and use low-intensity task lighting like desk lamps.

To sign up, visit the Wisconsin Humane Society's WIngs web site at http://www.wihumane.org/wildlife/wings/ . After receiving your submission, a WIngs coordinator will send you a welcome kit to make it easy for you to help migratory birds by making your building a Bird Safe Building. Businesses that register as a Bird Safe Building will receive free “WIngs” logo static clings to let your employees and clients know that you are working to save wild birds. We will also list your organization in our publications which go to thousands of supporters.