Open Letter to the Jersey City Council: Support Bird-Friendly Building Design
(February 25, 2026)
We, the undersigned, are asking you to support Jersey City’s bird-friendly buildings ordinance. Here’s why:
Jersey City is a birding hotspot; over 300 species have been documented here. There are incredible birds that call Jersey City home: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Red-tailed Hawks, Baltimore Orioles, Scarlet Tanagers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great Egrets, Bald Eagles—and so many more! Birds are a key part of our ecosystems. They pollinate, disperse seeds, recycle nutrients, and control insect and rodent populations. Birdwatching boosts our physical and mental well-being, which is vital for community health.
According to BirdCast, about 14 million birds migrated through Hudson County in fall 2025. They travel into every nook and cranny of our city, foraging in greenery around PATH stations, flitting between trees, and singing their hearts out from gardens and street plantings.
Unfortunately, Jersey City’s buildings are killing thousands of birds every year because of window collisions. When glass reflects open sky or trees, birds don’t see the glass as a solid barrier and fly straight into it. Most die instantly; others die later from broken bones, severed spines, concussions, or internal hemorrhage. It is a tragedy for each individual bird. Cumulatively, it is an environmental catastrophe.
This problem has a solution. Bird-friendly building design standards are proven to reduce collisions. Jersey City’s bird-friendly building ordinance, written by Jersey City Planning Department with input from American Bird Conservancy, ensures that all new buildings responsibly address a well-documented environmental hazard without undermining feasibility. This ordinance is NOT a specialty glass mandate. It requires architects to design with bird safety in mind from the outset, just as they already do with fire safety, energy performance, and accessibility.
Because the ordinance sets standards through a threat factor, rather than mandating specific treatments, developers have a wide range of options as to what designs they use. Compliance can be achieved using cost-neutral and low-cost materials and strategies, many of which also improve building performance.
A few pro-developer detractors continue to grossly inflate the costs, misinterpret data, and ignore the reality of how bird-friendly design actually works. There is no evidence from any jurisdiction with a bird-friendly building requirement that such laws impede construction starts, stall the development pipeline, or reduce housing production. This includes New York City, where all affordable housing permitted since early 2021 has used bird-friendly design.
Every new building that is constructed in Jersey City without bird-friendly design standards will kill birds for decades to come. Building collisions kill over one billion birds annually nationwide. Bird populations cannot sustain this level of loss year after year. We need clear, consistent bird-friendly design standards. The costs of inaction are too high.
For all these reasons, we respectfully ask you to vote in favor of Jersey City’s bird-friendly buildings ordinance.
On behalf of the undersigned organizations:
Jersey City Birds
Bergen County Audubon Society
Embankment Preservation Coalition
Feather Friendly
Feminist Bird Club JC
Friends of Liberty State Park
Friends of Riverview Fisk Park
Greener JC
Hackensack Riverkeeper
Hilltop Neighborhood Association
Hudson County Sierra Club
Journal Square Community Association
Lincoln Park North Neighborhood Association
McGinley Square Community Board
Native Plant Society of NJ, Hudson Chapter
New Jersey Conservation Foundation
NYC Bird Alliance
Ogden’s End Community Garden
Our Tern, Hoboken
Pershing Field Garden Friends
Pershing Field Neighborhood Association
Riverview Neighborhood Association
Skyway Park Conservancy
Van Vorst Neighborhood Association
West Side Community Alliance
Wild Ones, New Jersey Gateway Chapter
