More than 988 million birds die each year without warning, and there’s a simple explanation for it. It’s not a predator, or any sort of disease, but actually something much different — glass buildings.
While New York City skyscrapers are the biggest culprit, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there’s a big safety concern upstate as well.
"If you counted the birds of our nation, we're missing three billion birds since the last few decades. So we have cumulative loss," said Anne Clark, a biology professor at Binghamton University.
What You Need To Know
- Nearly a billion birds die each year without warning, mostly due to glass buildings
- Binghamton University has recently reported a sky-high rise in bird-strike deaths related to glass buildings on campus
- The university worked with a Syracuse company to install graphic vinyl, which has already seemed to reduce the number of deaths
These bird strikes are a growing issue on college campuses. BU has recently reported a sky-high rise in bird-strike deaths related to glass buildings on campus. Every semester, Clark watches as dozens of birds crash into the campus' glass science building, usually instantly killing them.
"On campus, you just multiply it because nobody's monitoring all of those windows. And what you see on the ground is a fraction of the damage done because every time there's a dead bird, there's probably three,” said Clark.
Clark knew she needed to take action.
While bird-safe glass is nothing new, it’s often expensive, and requires the replacement of windows, which can be labor intensive. That’s where SpeedPro, a sign shop based in Syracuse, came in.
"I enjoy looking at birds and keeping track of what I see and all that. I really did want to not have that happen if I could do something about it," said SpeedPro owner Bob Kelleher.
The school worked with Kelleher to find the solution: installing graphic vinyl where the strikes frequently happen.
"Any other project we've done for bird deterrent has been much smaller. And so this was this was quite an undertaking,” said Kelleher.
And while it’s still early, so far, it seems to be helping.
"I will say migration is on. We have zero birds found here, which is unusual,” said Clark.
While bird safety may not be a popular topic, Clark says it’s an essential part of nature. And with many of the bird strike deaths happening during migration in the fall, now is the crucial time to prevent them.