More than 600 million birds in the United States die from bird window collisions every year.
Now, Wayne State University and Detroit Audubon, soon to be Detroit Bird Alliance, are working to put a stop to that on the university’s Detroit campus.
The project, funded by a grant from the Detroit Zoological Society, aims to combat bird window collisions by applying CollideEscape, an adhesive film that takes away clear window reflection on the outside but has little effect on the window user. It’s part of a larger effort to protect migratory birds in the Western Hemisphere.
For about five years, dedicated volunteers and staff have walked WSU’s campus to track bird deaths resulting from bird window collisions during migration seasons. According to the Global Bird Collision Mapper, in which volunteer users record bird deaths, 577 birds have died in Detroit since 2019. Of those, 409 deaths happened on Wayne State University’s campus. Anyone can create an account and report birds using the website.
Bonnie Van Dam, curator of birds at Detroit Zoological Society, said there are many more dead birds than the number reported.
“It is hard to track …because the carcass disappears or birds fly away and die in a tree or get eaten by a scavenger,” Van Dam told Planet Detroit.
The project focuses on bird window collisions at WSU’s Law School and Law Library, where 83 reported bird deaths have been recorded since 2019.
Ashley Flintoff, Wayne State University’s planning and space management director, said birds frequently strike windows on the Law Library.
Flintoff explained that when someone passes by, a car drives by, or a loud noise occurs, it startles the birds. They mistakenly believe they can fly into the tree on the other side because they see it, but in reality, they can’t because it’s made of glass.
Detroit Audubon’s Conservation and Research Coordinator Ava Landgraf said confusion about windows is often fatal for birds.
“Birds don’t think like us,” Landgraf said. “They don’t know that windows exist, so they either see the reflection of trees or they see to the other side of the window, and they think that they can just go right through and end up just flying into those windows at full speed and getting head trauma or breaking a wing.”
Migratory birds with already declining populations, such as ovenbirds, white-throated sparrows, and woodcocks, account for most of the collisions, which usually happen during migration in the spring and fall, Landgraf said.
“They kind of fall into these traps where there’ll be an area that has some green space, but then also has these buildings and windows which they don’t normally have in their habitat,” Landgraf said.
Van Dam said bird window collisions result from a combination of hazards. “Hazards are not just glass, light and tall buildings, but a combo of them all together,” Van Dam said.
Though bird window collisions are especially a problem during migration seasons, they occur all year round, she said.
The North American bird population fell 29% — three million birds– from 1970 to 2019, a Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology study estimates.
Landgraf said that bird window collisions are the second leading cause of bird death behind cat predation.
“It’s always been a tricky problem, where we’re like, how do we even address this? What do we do?” Landgraf said. “There’s so many buildings, there’s so many windows. Where do you even start? How do you talk to people about this?”
A ‘proof of concept’
Flintoff said Detroit Audubon approached WSU about identifying areas on campus with the highest concentrations of mortality due to bird window collisions and applying for a grant through the Detroit Zoological Society to implement measures to cut down on those deaths.
“We worked with them to look at the data and identify some locations where we thought it might make sense,” she said.
Detroit Audubon applied for and received the grant, which is renewable.
Flintoff said though it isn’t the highest bird-strike area on the campus, the Law Library made the most sense as a “proof-of-concept” because it is not a historical building and would not require approval from the city’s Detroit Historic District Commission.
She hopes the project will grow to include the McGregor Reflecting Pool and the Faculty Administration Building.
“There’s a chance to make a really big impact right away,” Flintoff said.
Flintoff said the project group applied the strike-deterrent film CollideEscape to the lower-level windows of the Law Library and will finish the rest of the building, with the help of a crane, before the birds migrate back this spring.
“From the outside, it looks solid,” Flintoff said. “From our (inside) perspective, you really don’t notice the difference. It’s not blocking lighting coming into the building.”
Landgraf said putting film on windows is one of the most effective ways to prevent bird window collisions. One study found the effectiveness of such films in deterring bird window collisions ranges between 30%-90%,
Getting to bird-safe glass
Flintoff said she hopes their efforts encourage the university to invest in bird-safe glass in new projects, which can cost up to 5% higher than standard glass, by showing an impact on bird window collisions and recorded bird deaths on campus.
Some of the newest buildings on campus already incorporate bird-safe glass, including the Hilberry Gateway, which opened in April, and the M. Roy Wilson State Hall, which finished a remodel in October.
“All of the windows that we replaced, you’ll notice either have thin or thick stripes that are not super-dark – they’re just different,” Flintoff said. “You wouldn’t notice it if I hadn’t told you.”
As an urban research university, WSU aims to be an expert and leader in preserving urban ecological issues like bird window collisions, Flintoff said.
“This can be a living lab where we know this is an issue, and we’re going to start trying to address it,” she said. “And we’re going to try to understand how we can positively rather than negatively impact these issues of biodiversity and ecology in urban environments.”
Learn more about reducing bird-window collisions by contacting Detroit Audubon or tour more than 26 types of bird window collision prevention methods at the Detroit Zoo.