Designing Bird-Safe and -Friendly Cities

Head out of Center City and into East Fairmount Park to The Discovery Center, which co-hosts Audubon Mid-Atlantic and Philadelphia Outward Bound. An expert panel explores relationships among cities, birds, and other city-dwellers (humans among them); threats that urban environments pose to bird safety, particularly during migration; how planners, designers, and citizen scientists can support bird-safety; and why all this matters to birds, humans, and their dwellings.

Go birding and experience the natural environment along East Park Reservoir, a major stopover on the Atlantic Flyway for more than 100 species of birds. Learn about the role that spaces like the reservoir play for migratory birds and discover how inclusive educational programming sparks bird joy and seeds the next generation of urban birders, conservationists, and bird-aware planners and designers.

The Discovery Center provides a public space where neighbors, Audubon Mid-Atlantic, and Philadelphia Outward Bound co-create opportunities for everyone to experience nature within the city. This important migratory stopover is a national model in design and inclusive programming.

Workshop attendees walk approximately a mile and a half in the Discovery Center.