Saving the Lives of Our Feathered Friends: Bird-friendly Building Hacks

Most of us have experienced that sudden thud against the window, and we peek outside only to see a stunned sparrow lying limp on the ground. Sadly, bird-building collisions kill up to one billion birds each year in the United States. Some ornithologists believe that collisions with human-built structures are the leading cause of migratory bird mortality in North America.

Following along could make this American robin happy. Photo credit – Steve Arena

There are a few reasons why these collisions occur. During the day, windows reflect the sky, trees, and other surroundings in a bird’s urban or suburban habitat, or a bird may see potted plants on the other side. Because they can’t detect the pane of glass, they fly into it unknowingly. Collisions also happen at night, especially during migration. Birds that migrate at night are attracted to the bright lights left on in buildings overnight in urban areas. Additionally, territorial birds may collide with a window in attempt to chase the “other” bird away.

Fortunately, steps can be taken to help reduce bird mortality due to collisions with buildings. For example, windows can be marked with soap, decals, tape, and other things to help make windows more detectable by birds. But when staff at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge did not have success with these measures, they were committed to doing further research. Their newly built visitor center was designed with several massive windows. Upon the building’s completion, they began to experience bird deaths due to collisions with the windows; they were averaging one bird death per week.

In 2013, a summer intern named Hope Kanarvogel was moved to take on the problem and attempt to save some feathered friends. After some initial research, she made contact with a company that sells a paracord-based system to prevent bird-window collisions. They also provide detailed instructions on their website on how to make your own cord system. Generally, the paracord is fastened to a runner above the window and to one below the window so that vertical lines – spaced about three inches apart – break up reflections in the glass.

Hope Kanarvogel with the installed bird-friendly upgrade

Hope gathered the supplies which consisted of wooden runners and bulk paracord and got to work. Supplies totaled about $50. With a little help from colleagues, the cord system was fully assembled and installed in two days. And while the system has not eliminated the problem altogether, it has significantly reduced the number of collisions from one per week to one per month at Chincoteague.

Interns at Patuxent assembling zen wind curtains

Similarly, staff at Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland, have had comparable success has with a “zen wind curtain” which is the same basic design as was used at Chincoteague, except the bottom of the paracord is not secured. Visitor Services Manager, Jennifer McNicoll, is very happy with the success they have had in reducing bird strikes with windows at their staff offices. McNicoll was once an employee at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania where the “zen wind curtain” was designed. She says that they have been able to reduce bird mortality due to window strikes at the staff offices by 100 percent. McNicoll suggests soaking the paracord before hanging to allow it to shrink before installation.

Other successful techniques being used at Patuxent include perforated screening, artistic window decals, and tempera paint. The perforated screening allows people inside to see out but appears opaque to birds on the outside. McNicoll admits that while the screening is effective, it is not the most aesthetically pleasing solution. Enter artist Lynne Parks. The Baltimore-based artist is known for her photographic portraits of birds that have died from window strikes. Parks was commissioned to design a series of silhouettes of local flora and fauna that were printed and installed on a film that now covers four of the visitors’ center windows.

Additionally, tempera-paint murals have been painted on the outsides of windows at Patuxent that make them more visible to birds. McNicoll is currently spearheading a campaign that encourages schools and students to get creative with paint on windows to reduce strikes at their schools.

The Lynne Parks – designed mural at Patuxent

Installing the window art at Patuxent

Painting the windows at Patuxent

Patuxent intern Abraham Lopez painting staff window

Its art for bird safety!

Other inexpensive solutions to bird-window collisions offered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology include marking windows with soap, hanging sun catchers, mylar tape, affixing masking tape, and even sticky notes. It is important that anything applied to the window is affixed to the outside of the window to be seen by birds. Most of these techniques are only effective when placed close together (about three inches apart) and covering most of the window. Generally, one or two raptor silhouettes will not prevent bird collisions with glass.

While the numbers of bird deaths due to window strikes are staggering, the good news is that we can greatly reduce the danger to birds. At your home or office building, identify problem windows by going outside and looking at the windows from a bird’s point of view. If you see trees or sky reflected in the glass, that’s how birds will see it, too. With a little bit of effort and a few supplies, everyone can contribute to bird safety around buildings.

Jennifer Lynch Murphy is a wildlife biologist with C&S Engineers, specializing bird-aircraft collisions. She lives in Sunderland, MA with her husband, Kevin, and dog, Levi.

 

What’s growing in your yard or local park? Plant natives!

Common sneezeweed is a native plant that flowers from July to November and will grow in woods, swamps, meadows and other areas. Photo from Dan Mullen in Flickr Creative Commons.

Today you’re hearing from fish and wildlife biologist Dave Byrd in our Virginia Field Office. As a Partners for Fish and Wildlife biologist, Dave works to restore upland, stream and wetlands. He focuses on restoring streams within the endangered Roanoke logperch range, restoring longleaf pines in the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker’s range, and restoring large scale peat based forested wetlands for migratory birds. Photo courtesy of Dave.

As we approach another Arbor Day celebration, I am reminded of how I developed my love of native plants. Growing up in Northern Virginia, I was raised by a father that loved working the soil and watching the fruits of his labor grow into landscapes both edible and aesthetically pleasing. Few pastimes brought him more pleasure than planting trees, shrubs, vines, flowers and vegetables.

After leaving government service, he started a landscaping business, involving his sons and daughters and further instilling a love of plants and nature in us all. It was said that he never saw a plant he didn’t love and this philosophy translated into bringing back to our yard any plant removed or replaced at each landscaping site. While many of the trees, shrubs and vines were quite beautiful and attracted abundant wildlife, they also included a number of plants that were non-native and in some cases invasive, such as English ivy, yellow bamboo and five-leaf akebia.

Sure, Callery pear in bloom is pretty, but a simple swap with a native tree would provide the same beauty while being better suited for wildlife and pest control. Photo from Creative Commons Flickr user wilbanks.

Most readily available landscape plants are non-native, originating from countries with similar climates such as parts of Asia, Europe, South America and other far flung places. Many of these non-native plants are not invasive and pose little risk to the environment, while others are moderately to highly invasive, escaping from cultivation, colonizing both disturbed and undisturbed habitats and outcompeting existing native species.

Unfortunately, many of these invasives are still readily available in the nursery trade. You can usually check with your state’s natural heritage program, department of forestry or native plant society to determine which species are considered invasive in your state.

Spicebush is a native shrub that produces red fruit in the fall and flowers yellow in the spring. Birds, butterflies and squirrels love it! Credit: Dave Byrd/USFWS

Instead of planting a Callery pear, Norway maple or other non-native tree for Arbor Day, plant a native species instead. Native plants provide all the benefits of non-native species (flowers, fruit, fall color, screening) with additional benefits including:

• Shelter and food for native mammals, birds, and insects;
• More resistant to insect pests and diseases
• Little to no need for pesticides;
• Adapted to local soil and climate conditions;
• Less need for water/fertilizer once established; and
• Nutrient removal capabilities.

While Arbor Day focuses on tree planting, remember that in addition to native trees, native shrubs, perennials, biennials and annuals also play an important role in maintaining animal and plant diversity, soil stabilization, clean air and water. So if you can’t plant a tree for Arbor Day, plant common milkweed for monarch butterflies or other native plants for pollinators.

Monarch butterfly and a common milkweed bug, both on native swamp milkweed. Learn more about planting milkweed at fws.gov/savethemonarch. Photo from Creative Commons Flickr user Dharma_for_one.

Sources of native plant information include:

• Guide to landscaping with native plants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – searchable menu of native plant species by state, habitat requirements, size, etc., and map with links to native plant suppliers through U.S.
• American Horticultural Society’s list of state native plant societies
• Information on invasive plants and native alternatives (Invasive Plants and their Native Look-Alikes and Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas).
• Use Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s online tool YardMap for an easy, interactive way to design your backyard.