Bird Bricks in Scotland

Bird bricks made the news this year when Scotland bacame the first UK country to mandate their use in all new buildings (The Guardian, BBC, RSPB). Similar legislation has faced more obstacles in England (The Guardian). In the Netherlands, the bricks are known as neststenen or nestkasten, and were supposed to become mandatory on new construction, but the regulation was scrapped at the last minute, though their use is encouraged.

Bird bricks are used for urban cavity nesters such as swifts, starlings, and house sparrows--which are all in steep decline in many European countries (See Swift-Conservation.org).

Check out this swift brick here

American Bird Conservancy Urban & Suburban Habitat Site

Last November the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) revamped their webswite, which now includes a new section dedicated to Urban and Suburban Habitats.  For decades ABC has been the leader in addressing hazards birds face in urban areas, such as outdoor cats, collisions with glass, and pesticides. Looking forward to seeing if this new web page (first crawled by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine last November 13) signals an increased focus on urban and suburban birds and habitats.