Installing Bird-Safe Windows at Wayne State University

By Ava Landgraf, Detroit Bird Alliance Conservation and Research Coordinator

Detroit Zoological Society staff and Detroit Bird Alliance’s Ava Landgraf

Detroit Bird Alliance, Detroit Zoological Society, and Wayne State University are partnering on an exciting project to eliminate bird-window collisions at a set of windows notorious for high numbers of strikes.

Bird-window collisions cause the death of approximately 365 to 988 million birds annually in the United States. Most people don’t know that these collisions are the second highest source of direct human-caused mortality of birds, surpassed only by outdoor cats. Bird-window collisions can be broken down by building type with roughly 56% of mortality at low-rises, 44% at residences, and 1% at high-rises. This breakdown highlights the importance of focusing on low-rise and residential buildings as opposed to high-rise buildings and skyscrapers which are commonly associated with collisions. Due to the countless low-rise and residential buildings in Metro Detroit, selecting the buildings to prioritize for bird-safe retrofits must be done strategically. 

Detroit Bird Alliance has been surveying the buildings around the Wayne State University campus for the past five years to see which buildings result in the most bird-window collisions. By using this data, we determined the section of windows that will have the highest impact for reducing collisions is a glass corridor between the Wayne State Law School and the Arthur Neef Law Library. We chose to apply CollidEscape window film to the first two floors of windows within the corridor because the film is barely visible from the inside and the most effective treatment to prevent collisions. 

Installing bird-safe window retrofits at WSU Law complex.

The WSU campus offers a great opportunity to address bird-window collisions because the university embraces education, sustainability, and innovation. In addition, the Wayne State campus has ample greenspace and several low-rise buildings with extensive and uninterrupted glass factors known to cause higher rates of bird mortality We are excited to have Wayne State University’s support for reducing bird-window collisions, especially since understanding and addressing this issue is brand new to most institutions.

We are also grateful for the Detroit Zoological Society’s partnership in making this area safe for birds. This project supports the Detroit Zoological Society’s ongoing commitment to the SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) North American Songbird Program, to increase awareness of and reduce threats to North American songbirds. A priority of this program is reducing bird-window collisions. Multiple buildings at the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Center have been retrofitted with bird-safe window products, and new buildings have bird-safe glass.

We are excited to continue to expand these bird-safe solutions throughout Metro Detroit. Wherever installed, these window retrofits reduce bird-window collisions and educate people about this issue that severely impacts bird populations.