Every year, up to one billion birds die from window strikes in the U.S, species of all sizes brought lanugo by the invisible tragedy of glass. A growing soul of research surrounding the severity of window collisionsand ways to stave themhas resulted in increasingly organizations moving toward bird-friendly buildings, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Constructed in 2002, the Labs home in Sapsucker Woods was designed to harmonize with the landscape and indulge visitors to immerse themselves in the world of birds. Its two-story structure, built with natural materials like cedar and stone, is inconspicuously set underneath the treeline of the surrounding 220-acre sanctuary. Overlooking the swimming and feeder garden is a tall, glass-fronted observatory, which features an 84-foot-wide, two-story expanse of windows.
The Labs architects realized these large swaths of glass posed a threat to birds, but not to the extent known today: at the time of construction, there was limited research well-nigh the scale of window strikes, and proper guidance for preventing collisions had yet to emerge.
If you squint at the Lab of Ornithology from the outside, you can see that the glass is set when from metal pillars and framing, rather than stuff flush, said Miyoko Chu, the Labs senior director of science communications. From an architectural perspective, it was thought that birds would see the metal and transpiration undertow surpassing striking the glass. But research today shows that birds dont use the same visual cues as humans. They dont recognize that there is a nonflexible surface between the metal, so they try to fly throughperhaps as if flying between the trunks and branches of trees.
The transparency and reflectivity of glass often rationalization birds to perceive windows as extensions of their habitat. Entirely transparent structures such as glass bridges or breezeways indulge birds to see through to trees and the sky, and the illusion of unshut air results in birds hurtling into the glass without realizing it’s there. Reflective windows act similarly; birds see a mirage of trees and sky that they fly toward.
Collision mitigation strategies are centered virtually breaking up these images of foliage. Numerous studies have shown that birds are most likely to fly into windows unless the glass is retrofitted with a 2-inch by 2-inch pattern to unravel up reflections (using implements such as stickers/decals and tape, among many other options) or if windows are manufactured to incorporate signals that will stop collisions. These findings explain why the Labs original window diamond has been largely ineffective in preventing strikes.
How to Make Windows Safer
To make the Labs windows safer, we considered several options, evaluating factors such as aesthetics, cost, durability, and ease of installation and maintenance, Chu said. Ultimately, we chose Acopian BirdSavers, cords that hang in front of the windows, in large part considering of their higher effectiveness rating from the American Bird Conservancy compared with mucosa unromantic to the outside in patterns such as dots or stripes.
A separate option is to hang bird netting in front of a window. This tideway is plane increasingly constructive and has unchangingly covered the window that overlooks the Labs busy feeder gardena high-risk zone in cases when startled birds may hurtle yonder from a feeder and towards a window.
The Lab is now working to support bird-friendly towers initiatives elsewhere on Cornell Universitys campus. Collaboration with partners on campus and the American Bird Conservancy’s Windows Standoff program has once shown resultsin late August, the university published new bird-friendly diamond and construction standards. These will guide new construction projects on safer structures, landscaping, and window designs. Additional plans are underway to identify and write problematic structures on campus through remoter monitoring and outreach.
While the enormity of the standoff issue is daunting, in a variegated light its a tremendous opportunity to make changes to our buildings and help alimony those one billion birds working and flying. To do so will require initiatives wideness universities and citiesas well as efforts at the individual level to make homes increasingly bird-friendly.
Ellie VanHouten‘s work on this story as a student editorial teammate was made possible by a Cornell Lab of Ornithology Experiential Learning Grant.
