A sad fact is that many birds die from collisions with windows and buildings, A sobering 40% survive these collisions with the rest either dying on impact or shortly afterward, even if taken to avian care facilities. That’s an unfathomable 60% of birds that perish who strike buildings. A portion of these birds must be euthanized given the severity of their conditions when brought in by concerned and helpful individuals. The numbers, when crunched, now estimate that more than a billion birds die annually because of collision.
Recently, a paper was published on the PLOS ONE platform studying the reality of how many birds recover from a collision while being cared for and nursed back to health. It was assumed that most birds become stunned after a collision and then recover sufficiently to move on. These researchers, however, discovered that simply is not true.
The study (here) was undertaken by Ar Kornreich at New York’s Fordham University and assisted by Dustin Partridge, Mason Youngblood, and Kaitlyn Parkins. Together, they pored over 3,100 wildlife rehabilitation records of birds that collided with buildings and brought in for care. The study researched 152 avian species over several migration seasons to discover patterns that might help researchers in efforts to help reduce, if not completely eradicate building collisions. They evaluated patterns of survival and eventual release in hopes of finding a way to alleviate the issue more completely.
The Deadliest Season
One discovery was that migratory birds were far more likely to collide and die from contact with buildings during fall migration. The study also found that winter migration yielded the least number of collisions. Winter migration also had the most successful release aftercare probabilities. The why of these facts is being studied further.
Of the injuries sustained by the birds, the most prominent deaths were caused by head injuries as birds often flew straight into windows they could not see; the rest died from sustained head trauma. The efforts of the studies, which concentrated more heavily on surviving birds, are to discover the long-term effects of the building collisions and how they lead to mortality among birds.
It is hoped that better communication and effective collaborations will lead to a better understanding of how to deter birds from building collisions. More so, the hope is also directed at how to better respond to birds that have collided with buildings and brought in for immediate care that leads to survivability and release back into the wild. With the bird species populations in North America on the decline, it is important to reduce one of the major annual causes of bird fatalities by taking care to discover how to eliminate building collisions.
Currently, more than 20 cities and municipalities have legislated new laws that require safety elements in the construction of new buildings. But collisions also happen at the individual home level and apartment rises. Glass is the main culprit. Also, some cities along the migration paths have enacted laws that require buildings to turn off lights during migration to avoid luring birds downward and to their deaths.
It is good that we take this responsibility so deeply. With more effective studies, we can learn to create buildings and glass that help to greatly eliminate this threat to our feathered friends in the skies.
This is a huge problem, I have a parrot and at 4 months old taught him what glass was by opening g the let’s say shower door and walking in, then I would close the glass door and tap on it queuing him also saying the word “danger” then front doorand back doorwall repeatedly for weeks each day, he then learned mirrors, didn’t take him long, 5 years later “now” he has never flown into and glass or mirror, I still do it to this day and he says “I know” this is true, so when I take him outside for sunshine without a harness if he flys off he is careful and comes right back to me, this doesn’t help our birds in the wild, whish I could teach them, but how I don’t know! people need to teach there pet birds also or same end would happen, I don’t have the answers for the wild birds but it is so important we find a way! and it’s better to have your pet bird on a harness, I taught my baby indoor free flight, before that I always had a harness on him outside, still should but he hates the harness now, I guess stickers on all windows outside would or might help, not sure, for the love of all outside birds we have to come up with something so important!
I am a member of Tri State Bird Rescue and Research in Newark, Delaware. They have special decals that go on the glass doors and windows to help prevent birds from flying into the glass. I noticed at my workplace there were several dead birds on the campus due to window strikes. They had several office buildings over a very large campus. I contacted the external maintenance group to recommend the decals or the stamp on decals on the windows, but they refused to use them. It is disheartening to see the birds dying and lack of willingness to help. Maybe its because it would impede window cleaning and increase maintenance on their part??
Perhaps window manufacturers could place the decals inside the window panes were they cannot fall off and the outside glass would be unobstructed for easy cleaning?
I LOVE this idea about internally located decals, or some kind of reflecting element.