HOW TO START A FLAP-LIKE INITIATIVE IN YOUR CITY
			If you are visiting this page it's likely you are interested in joining or even starting a bird-rescue initiative in your city. We can't express to you enough how vital it is that you undertake such a venture. Bird collisions with human-built structures is steadily becoming the leading cause of bird mortality across North America. Presently, a migratory bird has a 43% chance of encountering a human-built obstruction as it travels to and from its breeding territory each year. With intensified urban sprawl, society's fixation with lighting up the night sky and the increasing use of reflective glass for construction, that percentage will grow alarmingly.
FLAP would love to see bird-rescue chapters in every major urban centre across North America and abroad. However, at present FLAP has neither the resources nor the infrastructure to allow for an expansion program. That being said, with the increasing number of appeals from individuals like you who wish to see a bird rescue program in their area, we would like to provide you with basic tools to get you started. Through the years FLAP has received emails from individuals across Canada, the United States and Europe hopeful of finding that a FLAP program exists in their city. Sadly, our reply is usually "No". However, FLAP did play a small role in the formation of two bird-rescue initiatives and we are proud to call them FLAP affiliates. One such group can be found in New York City. Operated under the "wing" of New York Audubon, the program is called Project Safe Flight (http://www.nycaudubon.org/projects/safeflight/). The second group can be found in Chicago and goes by the name Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (http://www.birdmonitors.net/). In order to see a bird-rescue initiative come to fruition in your city what's needed are your expertise, your feedback, your volunteer efforts and, most importantly, your patience. Before you get started, consider these issues. Generally speaking, wherever you find tall brightly lit structures or windows reflecting natural habitat, birds are apt to collide. However, there are exceptions. Occasionally, structures with features typically lethal to birds can reveal little, if any, sign of bird mortality. This being the case, it is wise to first spend some time investigating buildings in your area. We recommend that you devote an entire migration season to exploring structures in your area. Temperature, wind direction and speed, cloud cover and the amount of daylight available are all factors that birds take into account when migrating. Collisions cannot always be predicted. If you do not find any downed birds when you would expect to, please do not jump to the conclusion that the building is perfectly safe for migrants. Look for telltale signs: Ask security or maintenance staff if they ever find dead birds around their building or buildings or if they've ever witnessed a bird collision while on duty. Look for feathered remains indicating a bird has been scavenged. Look for impact marks i.e. powder residue thrown from feathers onto a window's surface by the force of impact. While trying to determine if a bird collision problem exists in your city, encourage others to join you in your efforts. Having additional eyes searching more often will enable a more thorough investigation. Below is a list of cities where individuals have expressed an eagerness to help address the bird-collision phenomenon in their region. If you find your city on this list, just click on its name and send an email introducing yourself and expressing your desire to join the cause. If your city isn't on this list and you wish to start a bird-rescue initiative, forward an email to flap@flap.org asking to have your city added. The current list of participating cities is as follows:
Canada Calgary, AL Halifax, NS Montreal QU Ottawa, ON Vancouver, BC Winnipeg, MA Abroad Fremantle, Australia Paris, France Stockholm, Sweden United Kingdom Brazil	United States Atlanta, GA Baltimore, MD Boston, MA Chicago, IL Cocoa Beach, FL Cleveland OH Jacksonville, FL Hoston, TX Milwaukee, WI Minneapolis, MS Morgantown, PA New York, NY Portland, OR Seattle, WA St Louis, Stillwater, MN Tennessee Thetford, Norfolk Washington, DC Weymouth, MA
Here are additional tools to help make your rescue efforts a bit easier: FLAP Volunteer Training Manual This manual offers suggestions on how to best go about rescuing birds. It was designed specifically for Toronto-based volunteers, but it provides numerous tips that can be applied to any urban centre. Bird Collision Reporting System It is imperative for you to keep accurate statistics throughout your rescue efforts. The data that you collect will prove to building owners and managers that birds are colliding with their structure. This data will also be used by FLAP to determine more accurately how many birds are colliding with human-built structures every year. FLAP's database is a password-accessed online database where all volunteers submit their collision reports. A password can be issued to anyone wishing to submit data on a regular basis. However, until your investigation reveals numerous casualties, it's best to keep written records of your findings. Once you have finished your investigation please forward to FLAP whatever data your collect, preferably in an Excel file. Once you have established that there is a serious bird collision problem in your city you need to make a decision. Do you want to function under the wing of FLAP and share the name Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), or you do you prefer to create your own bird rescue initiative similar to New York City and Chicago. If you decide to share the FLAP name you must follow our Code of Conduct and sign our Acknowledgement of Risk Form. We hope that we have inspired you to undertake a bird conservation program in your city or join an existing one, recognizing that we are rapidly losing some of our most beautiful native birds - warblers, vireos, thrushes, kinglets, woodpeckers, sparrows, woodcocks and many others. With your help we can all make a difference and ensure that these birds survive in our increasingly human-centred world.