A Window of Opportunity - Sustainability Grant received!
January 2021 - Lilly Branch Audubon Society received funding to retrofit the Ecology building at UGA with bird-friendly window treatments. The transparency and reflectance of windows can prevent birds from perceiving them as barriers, leading many birds to crash into the glass mid-flight. Colliding with windows can stun, injure, or kill birds. Fortunately, window treatments that help birds recognize windows as barriers have proven effective in reducing the number of bird-window collisions.
With this pilot project, we aim to:
- Educate UGA and Athens community members about the problem of bird-window collisions
- Develop a procedure for retrofitting existing buildings with bird-friendly film
- Assess the success of the window treatments (compare spring 2021 bird strikes at the Ecology building to strikes at buildings of similar size and window area)
- Prioritize other UGA buildings for future window treatments
All observations submitted to this iNaturalist project will help us with aims 3 and 4!
To learn more about bird-friendly window treatments, visit
- https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/project-safe-flight.html
- https://abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/homes-existing-buildings/
Thank you!