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This story was condensed from a feature in the Cornell Chronicle.

By Krishna Ramanujan

Since summer 2022—when two recently fledged hawks on campus were injured and a third died after flying into windows—a group of Cornell staff, alumni, students, and volunteers have worked to retrofit windows on a few buildings so birds can recognize and avoid them, with plans to address the issue on more around the Ithaca campus.

“Birds hit glass when they’re fooled by trees or skies reflected there, so the trick is to break up reflections,” says Miyoko Chu, senior director of science communications at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, who is leading the window retrofitting initiative.

Windows, buildings, and other structures are major risks to birds, with an estimated 1 billion colliding with buildings and windows annually in the U.S. and Canada alone. After habitat loss and cats, windows are the third largest human-caused source of mortality for birds.

At Cornell, millions of viewers enjoy bird cams, including people who follow the beloved matriarch hawk Big Red, her mate Arthur, and their fledglings each year. But between 2012 and 2022, more than one-third—34%—of the 33 hawks recorded on the cam have collided with windows.

“People who watch the cams are so attached to these birds, you really feel like you know them as individuals,” Chu says. “So when these tragic collisions happen, it hits really hard, just as if people were to receive news about any beloved animal they’ve known in person.”

As a result, a Cornell group launched an initiative in 2022 to install cords on windows on campus buildings and tape on bus shelters to help local hawks and other birds, including those that pass through campus during spring and fall migrations, see the glass and break up reflections.

Windows at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity were retrofitted last summer with Acopian BirdSavers, which include strands of paracord hung top to bottom over windows and spaced 3.5 to 4 inches apart.

“We wanted to get the glass at the Lab of Ornithology modified for a long time,” says Christine Sheppard ’71, PhD ’77, director of the Glass Collisions Program at the American Bird Conservancy, who has been working with Chu on the initiative to retrofit campus windows. “Having added Acopian BirdSavers at the Lab has allowed us to then start preaching to other people on campus.”

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When these tragic collisions happen, it hits really hard, just as if people were to receive news about any beloved animal they’ve known in person.

Miyoko Chu, Lab of Ornithology

In April 2023, the windows of a glass walkway at Stocking Hall were retrofitted with Acopian BirdSavers cording after a hawk fledgling died in a collision there last summer, and another was found injured nearby. And two bus shelters on Tower Road, one of which was the site of a fatal death of a Cornell hawk fledgling in 2016, have been fitted with stripes of white tape to mark the glass.

“The great thing about Cornell,” Sheppard says, “is that when we started talking to people in facilities, and when we started talking to the Cornell architects, they were all really positive about this.”

In August 2022, the University adopted new bird-friendly design and construction standards that will guide new construction, including structures, landscaping, and window designs, thanks to Chu, Sheppard, and others who worked with J. Shermeta, associate university architect at Cornell.

For example, the new Atkinson Hall, to be completed in 2024, will include fritted glass, which has patterns baked into it to reduce reflection and warn birds.

Glass companies have increasingly started producing bird-friendly glass as more legislation has been adopted, including New York City’s Local Law 15, which requires 90% of the envelope for the first 75 feet from the ground of new construction and major alterations to be made with bird-safe material.

“The bottom line is that people really care and want to be part of the solution,” Chu says. “Whether they’re building managers, architects, donors, cam watchers, or bird lovers, people are coming together on this issue to find ways to move forward.”

Top: Cords, installed to deter birds from flying into the glass, are seen on the footbridge of Stocking Hall. (All photos by Ryan Young / Cornell University.)

Published May 4, 2023

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Comments

1. 

   Diane Traina, Class of 1993

   2 Jul, 2023

   I’m so glad to hear that Cornell has adopted a plan to get new campus buildings designed to protect bird strikes! Thank you for prioritizing birds, they really need our help.

   Reply

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