Pitstop for the Birds
Migratory bird populations are in steep decline; they are calling for habitat. From a bird's eye vew, we can see 500,000 opportunities.
Pitstop for the Birds is turning EV charging sites into more than just places to plug in—by connecting stormwater management design with habitat restoration, we’re creating small but powerful places of beauty, biodiversity, and community connection, where migratory birds can rest, and people can reconnect with nature.
Picture This
Imagine a family driving from New York to North Carolina. At each charging stop, they discover something unexpected: native habitat, a footpath, birdsong. They open up the Pitstop dashboard and learn which migratory species are passing through that day — Prothonotary Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, birds they've never heard of - "lifers", suddenly real and present. Thirty minutes later, they're back on the road. But something has shifted. Less screen time. More noticing. By the time they arrive, everyone feels more connected to the landscape they've traveled through. This is what Pitstop creates: charging stops that restore habitat, invite discovery, and turn a routine pause into a moment of reconnection.
Learn more about why we do what we do
What Do Birds Have to Do with EV Charging?
Birds and people rely on the same travel corridors — and share similar needs when stopping to rest, refuel, and reorient. Our densest highway networks sit directly beneath the continent's busiest migratory flyways. As EV infrastructure expands across the country, every new charging station requires stormwater management and landscaping. Right now, most of that space is turf grass or gravel — ecologically empty. Pitstop for the Birds invites us to broaden the lens through which we see travelers — embracing birds as well — and to enhance these sites by integrating critical habitat features into required stormwater systems.
The Problem
Nearly 3 billion birds lost in 50 years
North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds in the past 50 years — a 29% decline in a single human lifetime (Rosenberg et al., Science, 2019). This loss signals a broader ecological crisis: weakened biodiversity, disrupted food webs, and the unraveling of ecosystem services that sustain all life, including our own. At the same time, 80% of Americans now live in urban environments (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020), increasingly disconnected from the natural world. The decline of birds and the decline of our relationship with nature are the same story.
These simple enhancements transform functional spaces into places of beauty, biodiversity, and community connection — and, by accommodating a rapidly scalable pace, could serve as a lifeline against extinction.
Listen closely — don't let the song fade
The Wood Thrush
The wood thrush is one of the most gifted singers in the eastern forest — it can sing internal duets with itself, producing two notes simultaneously through its y-shaped voicebox. Its flute-clear song has been a defining sound of North American woodlands for millennia. But wood thrush populations have declined by roughly 60% since 1970, driven by habitat loss and forest fragmentation (Partners in Flight). The species is now on the Yellow Watch List for birds most at risk of extinction without significant conservation action. Listen to the wood thrush. Don’t let this song fade away.