Be healthy by being outdoors in the natural d a y l i g h t w i t h n a t u re ! ~ Steven Ma gee
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CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER Sheet Glass Windows Take a Heavy Toll on Birds By Daniel Klem Jr., writing for The Wetlands Institute
I
Bird tape on a Wetlands Institute window to break up reflections.
Feather dust impact im
magine an invisible and immovable barrier placed along a busy thoroughfare, indiscriminately killing millions each year. Old and young, healthy and frail, all going about their lives, all equally at risk and none aware of the danger. Sadly, many birds find themselves in exactly this situation. Year after year, vast numbers across multiple species die colliding with such an obstacle. The culprit? Glass. Though useful and attractive in homes and buildings, sheet glass windows pose a serious threat to birds everywhere. Clear windows – such as those found in corridors and atria, and in high-rises and homes – act as mirrors, presenting birds with realistic reflections of habitat and sky. They see only open landscapes, and fail to recognize the danger until it’s too late. Many fly into panes of glass trying to reach the vistas beyond, injuring themselves or losing their lives as a result. You may have heard the sickening thud of a bird strike yourself, or found one dead on the ground beneath a window, another victim of this tragic – and largely unreported – circumstance. During migration, when larger numbers of birds are on the move, window strikes garner some attention as they typically involve dramatic, single-kill events of hun-
pression from a bird str
ike.
dreds of birds at a time (usually from collisions into city high-rises). However, window strikes are not a seasonal phenomenon, and are not restricted to buildings of a certain height. Many scientific studies have revealed that birds hit windows year-round, at any time of day, during all kinds of weather, and against multiple types of structures. In fact, the vast majority of strikes involve homes and low- to medium-rise buildings (less than 11 stories tall). High-rises are responsible for less than 1% – yet bird collisions with them receive the most attention. These strikes exact a heavy toll. In the United States alone, between 365 million and 1 billion birds die in window collisions each year. Consider this: the lower limit represents 1 million fatal bird strikes every day. We all immediately understand the impact of environmental disasters like oil spills, but it would take multiple hundreds of Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon accidents to match even the low end of annual casualties wrought by our seemingly innocuous windows. And even though this calamity is well-documented, few people are talking about it or taking action to address it. The good news is that this is a problem we can do something about. It requires a variety of solutions on multiple scales, but every one of us can play a part. For continued on page 78
Seven Mile Times
Spring 2022
s e ve nm ile t im e s .c o m