The UMass Bird-Friendly Project

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Every year, more than one billion birds die from window collisions in the United States. At UMass Amherst, a collaborative effort between faculty, students, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking flight to address the crisis—starting with the Studio Arts Building. 

The project began with a simple observation: students and faculty were noticing a troubling number of bird deaths around campus buildings. Undergraduate student Monica Mestre, now a UMass graduate student in the Department of Environmental Conservation approached Kelly Klingler, then a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Conservation and asked what could be done. Mestre was at the time an intern with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Through that internship she had learned about the catastrophic loss of bird populations in North America—down nearly three billion since 1970. Motivated to act, she and Klingler enlisted students to conduct bird collision monitoring on campus buildings.  Determined to address the issue, they launched the Make UMass Bird-Friendly (MUBF) initiative.  

To better understand where interventions were most needed, Mestre and Klingler organized a campus-wide monitoring project. Beginning in 2022, students in Environmental Conservation tracked bird collisions at 15 buildings as part of a structured data collection effort. Their findings were eye-opening. The team soon expanded their scope to 22 buildings, with results showing that just six buildings accounted for over half of recorded bird deaths.  

Margaret “Meg” Vickery, senior lecturer and undergraduate program director in the History of Art and Architecture Department began promoting these efforts in her architectural history classes to engage her students with these issues. Vickery had worked with Klingler in 2021 when, inspired by a UC Davis initiative to use sheep as sustainable lawn mowers, they initiated Sustainable EWEMass another cross disciplinary effort. The two brought sheep from the UMass Hadley Farm to graze campus grounds in front of the Bromery Center. They worked with Britt Crow-Miller, senior lecturer and graduate program director in Sustainability Science and Regional Planning, and incorporated the project into coursework, culminating in a symposium about the ecological, cultural, art historical, and pedagogical benefits of sheep grazing. 

MUBF’s efforts showed that the Studio Arts Building stood out as one of the most hazardous to birds. With nearly 200 buildings across campus, the group also launched an app-based tool to help community members report collisions more broadly. By the end of the spring 2024 semester, the team had recorded 142 bird fatalities at the monitored sites. 

With the help of undergraduate environmental conservation major Mark Titus—who used a geographic information system (a computer system that analyzes and displays geographically referenced information and uses data that is attached to a unique location) to map collision hot spots down to the windowpane—the team identified the Studio Arts Building as a prime candidate for intervention. It was one of the most dangerous buildings for birds and, importantly, it offered an opportunity to engage the public through art. 

That fall, the team invited the well-known ornithologist, Daniel Klem, to speak on campus about this tragic problem. They also initiated a design competition for bird-safe window designs. The goal: create an adhesive window design that would both prevent collisions and celebrate the bird life found on campus. The winning design was a striking, high-contrast concept by Studio Arts B.F.A. student Margaret Lepeshkin who was inspired by Klem’s lecture. 

“I wanted it to be effective in stopping collisions but also provide a glimpse of what birds can be found on campus,” Lepeshkin told Bridget Macdonald, author of a feature article published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this spring. Her high-contrast decal, now installed on the Studio Arts Building, features birds like the great blue heron, blue jay, cedar waxwing, and peregrine falcon. 

The decals were installed in two phases by UMass staff and a team of volunteers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The official unveiling, held on May 9, brought out faculty, students, and community members—even in the rain. 

“It’s essential that the humanities and fine arts are visibly involved in sustainability efforts,” said Vickery. “Birds touch all of our lives. This project shows how environmental work is enriched when we bring in visual art and architecture, history, and culture. It helps students see that their contributions matter and that they can make change.” 

The project team also includes Isabella Ragonese (postdoc), Feipeng Huang (MSc student), Rozy Bathrick (PhD candidate), and Nate Senner (assistant professor, Environmental Conservation). According to Macdonald’s report, senior biologist Randy Dettmers called the effort “an inspiring example of how community-led efforts to address a big problem can yield real results that will prevent bird collisions for years to come.” 

Next steps for the initiative include planned retrofits on other high-impact buildings and an exhibition next spring about bird migration and the downstream effects of bird collisions and deaths. That exhibition will use taxidermy and seed bank partnerships to explore the ecological importance of birds, and the crucial role architecture plays in protecting our bird species. 

Read more in Bridget Macdonald’s article for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: The art and science of preventing birds from colliding with windows.