SCIENCE, CONSERVATION, & EDUCATION PROJECT SAFEFLIGHT

Window Collision Monitoring

A New Initiative to Reduce Bird Mortality

Most of us have heard it before. The awful, loud thud of a bird hitting a window. I began to notice it more during the early COVID days when I was working from home. It wasn’t every day, but over the course of a few months I had a Chimney Swift and a few Cedar Waxwings hit my windows. One of the waxwings died on impact and I went online to order window decals immediately. We now know that even when stunned birds fly away after a few minutes many of them will die from internal injuries shortly after. It may not seem like a big problem, just a couple of birds hitting your windows every year, but when you do the math and add up how many houses there are across Alabama—and the country, and the world—it changes your perspective. Collisions with windows is the second leading cause of mortality for birds, with up to one billion birds dying every year in the United States alone . About half of those collisions occur at houses and low-rise buildings. Birds do not see glass, they see a reflection of sky or trees and think it’s safe to fly through. There are lots of ways to help birds, the most effective of which is properly spaced decals on the outside of windows.

Another way you can help is by joining our community science team. We are looking for volunteers to help us launch our first year of window collision monitoring across the state. Although we know collisions are a problem anywhere there are windows , we don’t know the extent of the problem in Alabama. Our former Conservation Committee member, Jessie Griswold, monitored window collisions in Birmingham for three years and found over 300 dead birds at ~16 buildings. We will continue monitoring those buildings to cover more ground in Birmingham and other cities, and we will use the data that our volunteers collect to direct mitigation efforts as we continue working to raise awareness and funds to make our cities more bird-friendly.

—LIANNE KOCZUR Science & Conservation Director

Learn more about how you can volunteer or make your windows bird-friendly at alaudubon.org/window-collisions