Landscape, Legal, and Biodiversity Threats that Windows Pose to Birds: A Review of an Important Conservation Issue

Klem, D. E.

doi:10.3390/land3010351

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Still, some species that occur at high densities in urban areas, such as the Rock Dove (Columba livia) and House sparrow, Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758), may learn from experience to avoid windows (Klem 2014). In this study, the highest number of mortalities resulting from bird-window collisions was recorded for the building (GAD) with the greatest total and percentage area of windows and number of surrounding trees.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…This is also in keeping with Rayner (1988) who determined that the relatively small thin wings of the Columbidae make them among the bird groups most susceptible to collisions. In North and Central America, nocturnal migrants, grouses, falcons, hummingbirds, and passerines such as warblers, manakins, sparrows and thrushes were the most likely victims (Gelb and Delacretaz 2009, Breithaupt et al 2013, Klem 2014, Loss et al 2014, Menacho-Odio 2015.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationship between bird-of-prey decals and bird-window collisions on a Brazilian university campus

Brisque¹,

Campos-Silva²,

Piratelli³

2017

Zoologia

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ABSTRACT. Bird-window collisions are a dramatic cause of bird mortality globally. In Latin America, statistics are generally very scarce and/or inaccessible so the frequency of such incidents is still poorly understood. Nevertheless, civilians have applied preventive methods (e.g. adhesive bird-of-prey decals) sparsely but, to our knowledge, no study has evaluated their effectiveness in Brazil. Here, we estimated the mortality rate of bird-window collisions and tested the effectiveness of bird-of-prey decals at preventing such accidents. We undertook daily searches for bird carcasses, presumably resulting from window collisions, near all buildings on a university campus over seven months. Adhesive bird-of-prey decals were then applied to the two buildings with the highest mortality rates and surveys continued for over 12 more months. The mortality rates before and after the application of decals and between seasons were then compared using Friedman test. We recorded 36 collisions, 29 around the two buildings with the highest collision rates 19 prior and 10 after our intervention with associated collision rates of 0.08 and 0.04 collisions/day. Although mortality was reduced by almost half, this difference was not statistically significant. The Blue-black grassquit, Volatinia jacarina (Linnaeus, 1766), and Ruddy ground dove, Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1810) suffered the highest number of collisions, followed by the Rufous-collared sparrow, Zonotrichia capensis (P. L. Statius Müller, 1776). Our bird-of-prey decals and efforts were insufficient to prevent or dramatically reduce the number of bird-window collisions. Therefore, we recommend that different interventions be used and additional longterm studies undertaken on their efficacy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between bird-of-prey decals and bird-window collisions on a Brazilian university campus

Brisque¹,

Campos-Silva²,

Piratelli³

2017

Zoologia

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“…Avian collisions with windows are an issue of importance to global conservation as perhaps up to a billion birds die each year when they fly into closed windows (Klem, 2014;Loss et al, 2014;Loss, Will & Marra, 2015;Ocampo-Peñuela et al, 2016;Schneider et al, 2018) and the problem is geographically widespread (Basilio, Moreno & Piratelli, 2020). Though external window treatments are generally affordable they can be expensive to apply if not affixed to windows at the time of building construction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More than a billion birds die annually in night-and daytime collisions with residential and commercial windows (Klem, 2014;Loss et al, 2014;Loss, Will & Marra, 2015;Ocampo-Peñuela et al, 2016;Schneider et al, 2018). It is likely that this pattern of mortality not only creates conservation issues for some avian populations but also raises significant political and socioeconomic barriers to human development of the landscape (Loss et al, 2014;Klem, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultraviolet-reflective film applied to windows reduces the likelihood of collisions for two species of songbird

Swaddle

Emerson

Thady

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Perhaps a billion birds die annually from colliding with residential and commercial windows. Therefore, there is a societal need to develop technologies that reduce window collisions by birds. Many current window films that are applied to the external surface of windows have human-visible patterns that are not esthetically preferable. BirdShades have developed a short wavelength (ultraviolet) reflective film that appears as a slight tint to the human eye but should be highly visible to many bird species that see in this spectral range. We performed flight tunnel tests of whether the BirdShades external window film reduced the likelihood that two species of song bird (zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata and brown-headed cowbird, Molothrus ater) collide with windows during daylight. We paid particular attention to simulate the lighting conditions that birds will experience while flying during the day. Our results indicate a 75–90% reduction in the likelihood of collision with BirdShades-treated compared with control windows, in forced choice trials. In more ecologically relevant comparison between trials where all windows were either treated or control windows, the estimated reduction in probability of collision was 30–50%. Further, both bird species slow their flight by approximately 25% when approaching windows treated with the BirdShades film, thereby reducing the force of collisions if they were to happen. Therefore, we conclude that the BirdShades external window film will be effective in reducing the risk of and damage caused to populations and property by birds’ collision with windows. As this ultraviolet-reflective film has no human-visible patterning to it, the product might be an esthetically more acceptable low cost solution to reducing bird-window collisions. Further, we call for testing of other mitigation technologies in lighting and ecological conditions that are more similar to what birds experience in real human-built environments and make suggestions for testing standards to assess collision-reducing technologies.

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“…Avian collisions with windows are an issue of importance to global conservation as perhaps up to a billion birds die each year when they fly into closed windows (Klem, 2014;Loss et al, 2014;Loss, Will & Marra, 2015;Ocampo-Peñuela et al, 2016;Schneider et al, 2018) and the problem is geographically widespread (Basilio et al, 2020). Though external window treatments are generally affordable they can be expensive to apply if not affixed to windows at the time of building construction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #3 of "Ultraviolet-reflective film applied to windows reduces the likelihood of collisions for two species of songbird (v0.1)"

Ocampo-Penuela¹

2020

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Perhaps a billion birds die annually from colliding with residential and commercial windows. Therefore, there is a societal need to develop technologies that reduce window collisions by birds. Many current window films that are applied to the external surface of windows have human-visible patterns that are not aesthetically preferable. BirdShades have developed a short wavelength (ultraviolet) reflective film that appears as a slight tint to the human eye but should be highly visible to many bird species see in this spectral range. We performed flight tunnel tests of whether the BirdShades external window film reduced the likelihood that two species of song bird (zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata and brown-headed cowbird, Molothrus ater) collide with windows during daylight. We paid particular attention to simulate the lighting conditions that birds will experience while flying during the day. Our results indicate a 75-90% reduction in the likelihood of collision with BirdShades-treated compared with control windows, in forced choice trials. In more ecologically relevant comparison between trials where all windows were either treated or control windows, the estimated reduction in probability of collision was 30-50%. Further, both bird species slow their flight by approximately 25% when approaching windows treated with the BirdShades film, thereby reducing the force of collisions if they were to happen. Therefore, we conclude that the BirdShades external window film will be effective in reducing the risk of and damage caused to populations and property by birds' collision with windows. As this ultraviolet-reflective film has no human-visible patterning to it, the product might be an aesthetically more acceptable low cost solution to reducing birdwindow collisions. Further, we call for testing of other mitigation technologies in lighting and ecological conditions that are more similar to what birds experience in real humanbuilt environments and make suggestions for testing standards to assess collision-reducing technologies.

show abstract

Landscape, Legal, and Biodiversity Threats that Windows Pose to Birds: A Review of an Important Conservation Issue

Cited by 20 publications

References 17 publications

Relationship between bird-of-prey decals and bird-window collisions on a Brazilian university campus

Relationship between bird-of-prey decals and bird-window collisions on a Brazilian university campus

Ultraviolet-reflective film applied to windows reduces the likelihood of collisions for two species of songbird

Peer Review #3 of "Ultraviolet-reflective film applied to windows reduces the likelihood of collisions for two species of songbird (v0.1)"

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