UMass Students and Researchers Seeks to Combat Bird-window Collisions

Content

Each year, more than one billion birds die in the United States as a result of colliding with windows. Collision rates are especially high during spring and fall, when most birds are migrating to and from their breeding grounds. Bird-window collisions are considered one of the most pervasive conservation issues facing birds in North America.

To address this pressing concern, more than 280 students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have spent the past three years surveying 23 campus buildings on a daily basis to determine how many birds, and of which species, are killed, how often and where.

A recent exhibit hosted at the UMass Olver Design Building, “Reflections on Collisions,” outlined the results of student-led surveys on the UMass campus, displayed student-prepared museum specimens, and explained what can be done to prevent bird-window collisions. As UMass doctoral student and lead exhibit designer Rozy Bathrick noted, “Bird-window collisions are incredibly sad to witness and a pressing conservation concern, but they are also one threat that each and every person can do something about."

Thankfully, these collisions can be easily avoided: new windows can be manufactured to be bird safe, while existing windows can be outfitted retroactively with bird-safe window coverings.

The importance of this work was recently recognized by Healey-Driscoll Administration, which awarded the team $173,404 to continue to make the UMass Amherst campus bird safe.

“This project has brought together so many different people with so much passion and so many different areas of expertise," says Nathan Senner, an assistant professor of environmental conservation in the College of Natural Sciences and one of the project’s leads. He hopes that this research "can help demonstrate how all of that energy and interest has come together to bring change to the UMass campus.”

This story was originally published by the UMass News Office.