Bird Collisions with Glass and Buildings

Reflections in a glass office building confuse birds and can be fatal. Photo by Microsoft

Composite photo of birds killed at buildings in Baltimore, by Daniel Lebbin, ABC.

The Challenge

An estimated 300 million to 1 billion birds die each year from collisions with glass on buildings, from skyscrapers to homes. Birds simply can’t tell reflection from reality. Even if a bird flies away after striking a window, it may die elsewhere as a result of the collision.

ABC Conservation Framework

This program fits into two the category Eliminating Threatsof within ABC's conservation Framework.

Eliminating Threats

Primary Birds Impacted

Allsongbirds and many birds of prey are most at risk from collisions with glass

Solutions

Incorporate bird-safe design elements into new architecture. Create “visual noise” to break up reflections on existing windows by applying tape, film, paint, or decals to their exterior, or using plantings strategically placed outside the windows. The installation of netting several inches in front of the glass can also be effective.

ABC Results

	ABC has produced Bird-Friendly Buidling Design, a unique publication that provides planners, architects designers, bird advocates, local authorities, and the general public with a clear understanding of the nature and magnitude of the threat glass poses to birds and solutions to eliminate the threat. This edition includes a review of the science behind bird collisions, real-world examples of solutions in action, and an investigation into what information is still needed.
	Thanks to the generous support of the Leon Levy Foundation, ABC is working to raise awareness of the problem of bird collisions with glass, and to find practical solutions that can be incorporated into new building design/construction and retrofitted to make existing buildings bird-friendly.
	.American Bird Conservancy has published an informative collisions flyer that offers tips on how to reduce the chances of birds flying into home windows and glass doors.
	ABC has helped develop legislation recently introduced by Congressman Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that would require bird-safe construction for new federal buildings and mitigation on existing buildings.
	ABC provides information and resources to expand “Lights Out” campaigns in U.S. cities with partners that include conservation organizations, government agencies, and other stakeholders. We will partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Urban Conservation Treaty City program, National Wildlife Federation’s Flyway Cities Campaign, and others to support program development and/or expansion.
	ABC persuaded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) to incorporate its ideas for bird-friendly architecture into its green building certification guidelines and has now proposed a “bird credit” for those who design and build in a bird-friendly manner.
	ABC has partnered with the Philadelphia Zoo to provide its visitors with practical information on how to reduce the impacts of glass construction on birds. The information also will be available to all American Zoo and Aquarium Association members to share with their visitors.

What Next?

	ABC is conducting extensive research in conjunction with the Powdermill bird banding station in Pennsylvania to identify the most effective ways to deter bird collisions and how to rate effectiveness of different materials. The results of these tests can then be applied to practical recommendations and guidelines.
	ABC’s goal is to integrate bird safety into the very definition of a green building, and to have this reflected in specific performance standards to reduce collision hazards. Such standards will encourage innovative designs by architects, and stimulate market-driven solutions to the problem by increasing demand for new products, such as glass that is visible to birds but not to people—perhaps the ultimate high-tech solution to bird collisions with windows.
	Work with manufacturers and scientists to develop technological solutions to the bird strike problem.
	Increase awareness of this problem in the planning, architectural, and building communities, and the general public. ABC is producing a comprehensive instructional booklet for this purpose.

Take Action

Tell your Representative to vote in favor of H.R. 4797, the Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2010 that calls for each public building constructed, acquired, or altered by the General Services Administration (GSA) to incorporate, to the maximum extent possible, bird-safe building materials and design features. The legislation would require GSA to take similar actions on existing buildings, where practicable, which has already been demonstrated to be attainable since many buildings constructed by the GSA are, in fact, bird-friendly. This bill will help prevent the deaths of millions of birds that collide with windows at thousands of federal buildings across the country.
Download ABC’s collisions brochure: You Can Save Birds From Flying into Your Windows and follow the guidelines to make your windows more visible to birds.
Office workers and residents of apartment buildings should ask building managers to have the exterior vanity lights and flood lights turned off at night, especially during migration seasons.
If you live or work on the upper floors of a building, keep your blinds drawn during overnight hours.
Move house plants away from windows so birds do not mistake them for available habitat.
If you are designing or building a house or commercial building, take steps to make it bird-safe. Consult Bird-Safe Building Guidelines, available at www.nycaudubon.org, and the City of Toronto’s Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines, available at www.toronto.ca/lightsout/pdf/development_guidelines.pdf.
Join a volunteer program that not only works with building managers to reduce light pollution, but rescues injured and disoriented birds.