Earlier on in the blog Julie mentioned her frustrations with the bird problem on campus and a possible solution in the form of window tinting that helps to prevent collisions. I commented on Terri’s post talking about how at one time or another in a meeting or class we had discussed some additional creative solutions to this problem that have been proposed, and I wanted to share them and see if you guys had any thoughts on these different solutions. While researching some of these creative solutions I stumbled upon some additional information about the issue throughout the US that I found to be fascinating.

A recent study on bird-building collisions in the US performed by the Migratory Bird Center of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Oklahoma State University found that up to 1 billion birds die a year in the US as a result of window strikes (Loss et al. 2014).

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1650/CONDOR-13-090.1

Many of these birds are just stunned initially and will fly off and die of internal bruising or internal bleeding soon after.

In addition, there are three noted types of collisions. The first are daytime collisions that occur as birds see the reflection of their surroundings in the windows and assume it is a continuation of the landscape. The second type of window-bird collision are nighttime collisions in which nocturnal flyers are somehow lured by the lights and it results in collision (still not fully understood). The third collision type generally occurs during breeding season when birds are trying to protect their breeding territory and will attack their own reflection in windows during the daytime (generally occurs in the springtime). I am guessing we are generally seeing the first type of collision on our campus, but I am curious to know if we see much of the other two.

Some additional solutions that I have heard about in discussions on campus include things like mesh stickers on large windows on campus, bird decals on windows, and taut netting in front of windows to prevent fatal collisions.

In discussion it seemed like much of the push-back for these solutions involved the aesthetic disruption they might have on campus and maybe the cost of certain solutions, and I wonder if you guys have any thoughts on that as well? It seems like there must be some solution that would not be too much of a disruption and would be worth it to save all these birds.

This site where I got a lot of interesting information on the issue lists a variety of creative solutions and more information!
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/why-birds-hit-windows-and-how-you-can-help-prevent-it/