Tutorial group strikes back against bird strikes

By Eleanor Corbin corbinel@grinnell.edu

As the final project for their tutorial, a group of first-year Grinnell College students have created a form to report and track bird strikes across campus. The group, composed of Abby Fantz `26, Corinne Fox `26, Kevin Johanson `26 and Johanna Swanson `26, say that the goal of the project is to map areas and windows most dangerous for birds on the Grinnell College campus.

The Birds: Nature, Joy and Belonging tutorial, taught by professor of English Hai-Dang Phan, focused on birding — the practice of observing birds in their natural environment — and studying birds through the lens of environmental justice.

“The tutorial was mostly an excuse for professor Phan to have some people to go birding with,” Fox said jokingly. “It was a lot of fun.”

For their capstone project in the course, students split into groups, and Phan tasked them with creating a project that focused on community engagement with tangible effect.

Fox, Fantz, Johanson and Swanson decided to focus on an issue that had come up earlier in the semester. As members of the tutorial began paying more attention to the birds on campus, they began to notice numerous locations where birds frequently struck windows, according to Fox and Swanson.

“It started because we were all supposed to look for birds, and we saw a lot on the ground beneath [the] windows,” Fox said.

According to Fox, migratory birds are more likely to run into windows because they are less familiar with the campus layout. Subsequently, many of the birds who die from strikes are rare to see in this area.

“A lot of them [the bird strikes] were birds you don’t see very often,” Swanson said, “like warbler species and catbirds.”

Phan noted one particular instance when Fantz came to his office hours distraught after she had witnessed a gray catbird hit a Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC) window.

“Since there have been humans, we have been living with the land and among birds, and have drawn them, and have written about them and made songs about them,” said Phan, stressing the importance of preservation efforts. “They’re metaphors for freedom and companion- ship … So, the fewer birds there are, the fewer metaphors, the less art.”

Fox then went on to create the first reporting form which would later transform into the group’s final project. She said that once birds migrate back through Iowa around March, the students hope to get sufficient data to suggest areas in need of attention. One common solution to bird strikes, explains Fantz, is the use of window decals to make large windows visible to birds.

Incomplete policy guidelines

Incompletes— Continued from Front Page great way to learn.”

The new guidance addresses when Incompletes are generally appropriate for students. According to the guidance, Incompletes are allowed when unforeseen circumstances have emerged, only a single assessment remains in which the students can complete coursework within two weeks and the student has been regularly participating in class until that point.

An Incomplete is not appropriate when course policies do not permit late work, multiple assessments must be completed, the assignment cannot be completed independently or an extension has already been granted on the same assignment that the student has not met.

While granting Incompletes is under the discretion of the instructor, Stern said that academic advising typically becomes involved in the Incomplete process for students taking multiple Incompletes in one term or for students enrolled in 14 or less credits.

“I’d love to prevent them in all cases,” Stern said. “We’re always trying to help students pursue their semester in a way that’s sustainable, so they don’t have to take work home with them.”

Alex Sun `23 said that he took an Incomplete in a history seminar last fall because he wanted to prioritize say that specimen keeping is an important way of retaining information about species for the future.

Fantz noted that the buildings on campus that pose the biggest danger to birds are those with large swaths of windows, like Burling Library, the HSSC and the Dining Hall.

“It’s very beautiful, but it is pretty dangerous to birds,” Fantz said Fox, Swanson and Fantz said that if someone comes across a bird strike, the most important thing they can do is not touch the bird because the stress of being touched can worsen the bird’s condition. If the bird appears to be alive, ensure that the bird is not in danger of being stepped on, and call a local wildlife center, like the Iowa Wildlife Center — (515) 233 -1379. If the bird is dead, the current protocol is to call Facilities Management.

Swanson has their own goals with the project. Having gained an interest in specimen preservation in high school, they say that they are working to get permission from the College to collect and preserve casualties from bird strikes. They

However, “the other best thing to do is preventing [the bird strike] in the first place,” Fox said.

As such, they request that students use this form (bit.ly/ GCbird) to report the location of encountered bird strikes.