Bird protection treatments reduce bird-window collision risk at low-rise buildings within a Pacific coastal protected area

Abstract

Background: In North America, up to one billion birds are estimated to die annually due to collisions with glass. The transparent and reflective properties of glass present the illusion of a clear flight passage or continuous habitat. Approaches to reducing collision risk involve installing visual cues on glass that enable birds to perceive glass as a solid hazard at a sufficient distance to avoid it.

Methods: We monitored for bird-window collisions between 2013 and 2018 to measure response to bird protection window treatments at two low-rise buildings at the Alaksen National Wildlife Area in Delta, British Columbia, Canada. After 2 years of collision monitoring in an untreated state, we retrofitted one building with Feather Friendly^® circular adhesive markers applied in a grid pattern across all windows, enabling a field-based assessment of the relative reduction in collisions in the 2 years of monitoring following treatment. An adjacent building that had been constructed with a bird protective UV-treated glass called ORNILUX^® Mikado, was monitored throughout the two study periods. Carcass persistence trials were conducted to evaluate the likelihood that carcasses were missed due to carcass removal between scheduled searches.

Results and conclusions: After accounting for differences in area of glass between the two buildings, year, and observer effects, our best-fit model for explaining collision risk included the building's treatment group, when compared to models that included building and season only. We found that the Feather Friendly^® markers reduced collision risk at the retrofitted building by 95%. Collision incidence was also lower at the two monitored façades of the building with ORNILUX^® glass compared to the building with untreated glass. Although more research is needed on the effectiveness of bird-protection products across a range of conditions, our results highlight the benefit of these products for reducing avian mortality due to collisions with glass.

Keywords: Avian collisions; Bird-window collisions; Effectiveness; Feather Friendly; Mitigation; ORNILUX; Real-world testing; Retrofits; UV; Year-round monitoring.