Did you know that, according to the American Bird Conservatory, every year some 97.5 to 975 million birds are killed by collisions with windows in the United States alone? Urban structures pose many dangers for all kinds of birds but are especially problematic for those who are migratory.
One of the major issues associated with collisions of this kind is that though the initial impact may not be immediately fatal, birds often die from internal hemorrhaging or become an easy target for predators because of their weakened condition caused by the strike. It is estimated that somewhere between 50 percent and 90 percent of birds that hit windows are fatally injured.
Collisions with buildings can happen both during the day and at night; although it is important to note that the threats at each time of day are caused by different factors. Typically, the strikes that occur at night are related to problems with the way artificial lighting distorts a bird’s perception of its immediate surroundings. Those that occur during the day tend be related to difficulty that birds have perceiving clear or reflective glass as an impenetrable obstruction.
As spring and fall migration periods see the highest collision rates, now is a great time to take some active precautionary measures to reduce the risk of collisions at your home or office. Research has shown that some of the most basic methods to effectively avert potential window strikes involve applying markings to the outside of windows to make them more visible to birds or covering the exterior window with a protective barrier to prevent injuries from impact. Some low-cost options include decals, Tempera paint, or colored tape. The patterns you put up should be noticeable enough to break up the reflectivity of the window, but not so dense that you can not see through them anymore.
Preventing nighttime collisions is even easier — just be sure to shut the curtains or close the blinds when it starts to get dark, and turn off the lights when rooms aren’t being used. For more details on what you can do to prevent strikes, check out www.abcbirds.org.
Although the threat of window collisions has been a widespread problem for some time, it is only recently that this issue has gained the attention of conservationists and government agencies. In order to better understand what types of architectural features on urban structures are posing the greatest threat to birds, multiple avian urban mortality studies are being conducted across the country. The Lane County Audubon Society is presently working on a similar project here in the Eugene area. The current monitoring program consists of investigating the exteriors of several buildings around town and on campus for evidence of two types of window strike events: immediately fatal strikes via bird carcasses and less obvious strikes via stains or feathers stuck to windows. However, even though Eugene is not a large city, there is a lot of ground to cover. We are currently looking for help from the University community to report incidents of bird strikes. If you happen to see evidence of a strike event or would like more information about the program, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Any of the following information would be useful but is not required: date, time of day, location, weather, type of bird, etc. Also, a picture (even a snapshot from a cell phone) would be helpful.
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