If you’ve ever heard a single loud knock on your window, you probably already know what happened. Time and time again, birds fly full speed into residential and commercial windows, often leading to their death.

Unfortunately, a bird flying into a window isn’t an unusual occurrence, but you probably don’t think of it as a major issue either. However, the American Bird Conservancy estimates that birds flying into windows results in between 300 million and 1 billion avian fatalities in North America annually.

If you want to protect birds by installing film on your windows, give us a call at (410) 549-4285 or click here for a free price quote.

Creative Solutions to Prevent Birds from Flying into Windows

So why do birds fly into windows so frequently? It’s because birds simply don’t understand the concept of reflections. A bird will see what it thinks is a tree in the distance and fly towards it, but the bird flies into a window instead. Accordingly, the best way to address this issue is by preventing birds from seeing reflections in the glass.

There are numerous ways in which to do this. A few of them include using decals or tape on windows, applying a substance such as soap or tempera paint to the window, using an awning to reduce the reflection, or even just closing the curtains.

If you’re looking for a more practical solution than using tape or soap while still letting in sunlight, your best option is to use window film. You can go with either solid-colored or patterned film, each of which is transparent from inside.

Making the Move towards Bird-Friendly Windows

CIEMAS building at Duke University. Photo by: Alex Deckey

Recently, Duke University’s Bird Window Collision Project has made efforts to reduce the high number of bird collisions on campus. Their research found that 72 percent of bird collisions occurred at the CIEMAS building. The CIEMAS building sees the largest number of bird collisions due to the large reflective windows.

To combat the on-going issue, the Bird Window Collision Project decided to apply a dotted film (also known as frit) to the upper-level windows of the CIEMAS building. After peeling the film off, the dots remain on the windows and are now visible to the birds.

Buildings such as the Penn Pavilion and Environmental Hall were fritted upon construction to avoid the issue before it gets even worse. These buildings are now much safer than the CIEMAS building.

Vikings Stadium

Sketch of the new Minnesota Vikings Stadium. Photo: Fox Sports

The new Minnesota Vikings stadium has received a lot of backlash from bird conservation groups and bird lovers alike because of the decision to not install a special kind of glass that would decrease the likelihood of bird collisions with the windows. The added costs and delay of construction time is estimated at around $25-60 million, and seems to be the deciding factor to not save the lives of thousands of birds.

Hopefully, Sunday’s won’t be a bird sanctuary at the new Vikings stadium, but we will soon find out. At the pace they’re currently at, the construction should be finished in time for the Vikings to start the 2016 season in their brand new bird “death trap.”

With the increasing amount of large glass buildings like the Vikings Stadium being erected, it’s important that we bring this issue to the table before construction starts. If we can start encouraging architects and contractors to see this as a need, we will be able to significantly decrease the numbers of bird fatalities across the US.

Let Absolute Perfection install bird-friendly window film to your home or business. Give us a call at (410) 549-4285 or click here for a free price quote.