Reduce Bird Collisions With Visible Glass

Glass fences and panels are wonderful for creating sleek, modern landscape designs that allow full appreciation of a view or line of vision. But unfortunately, this design choice can come with its downside: bird collisions.

A recent article by Rachel Fritts of Wildhope.tv detailed the efforts of a newly formed bird collision prevention team at the National Zoo. The goal? Make all the zoo’s glass bird-safe. Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., sees hundreds of birds stop each year as they make their way up and down the Atlantic Flyway. When designing a safe, new birdhouse in 2018, it occurred to staff to monitor bird-glass collisions on the property and found hundreds of birds were falling victim.

As a result, last spring, staff started covering the zoo’s 10,000 square feet of glass in square decals spaced in a 2" × 2" grid.

The zoo received funds to buy the decals from Feather Friendly, a company specializing in technologies that make glass visible to birds with modern, clean designs. Past projects have included the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado and Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio. According to the Bird Collision Prevention Alliance, other companies offering film solutions include CollidEscape and SOLYX. There are also facade cladding systems, motorized shade systems, and etched or digital printed glass such as SkySafe™Glass with Surface one Ecoetch® from Skyline Design. For more information, visit www.stopbirdcollisions.org.

Also check out these Window Decals:

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