“When wood thrushes arrive in northern Mississippi on their spring migration and begin to serenade my neighborhood with their ethereal, harmonized song, it’s one of the great joys of the season. It’s also a minor miracle. These small creatures have flown more than 1,850miles (3,000 kilometers), all the way from Central America. Other birds undertake even longer journeys — the Swainson’s thrush, for example, nests as far north as the boreal forests of Alaska and spends the nonbreeding season in northern South America, traveling up to 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) each way. These stunning feats of travel are awe-inspiring, making it that much more tragic when they are cut short by a deadly collision with a glass window.”
Can you imagine what it must take for these small birds to fly this far? Probably not. I mean, whoever thinks of these kinds of things anyway, right? Probably just bird enthusiasts and scientists. But can you imagine a world without birds? “Two recent scientific studies estimate that more than 1 billion birds – and as many as 5.19 billion –die from collisions with sheet glass each year in the United States alone, sometimes immediately but often from their injuries.” WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?THAT MANY BIRDS IN JUST OUR COUNTRY?
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE:
“In fact, window collisions are now considered the top human cause of bird deaths. Due to window collisions and other causes, bird populations across North America have declined more than 29%from their 1970 levels, likely with major consequences for the world’s ecosystems.” And “[t]hese collisions occur on every type of building, from homes to skyscrapers,” and “[m]ost frequently, glass acts as a mirror, reflecting clear sky or habitat. There is no reason for a bird to slow down when there appears to be a welcoming tree or shrub ahead.”
Can we do anything to help the birds? I can think of one thing. If you work, go to school, or live in or at a building with lots of glass and you start seeing injured or dead birds next to your building, tell someone at the building about it – your landlord, principal, building services department, and maybe they can do something to lower the risk. “Films, stickers or strings can be added on the exterior of windows, creating dots or lines, 2 to 4inches apart, that break up reflections to give the appearance of a barrier. ”Also, “[e]xterior screens and blinds work great too. Just adding a few predator silhouette stickers is not effective, by the way – the treatment needs to span the whole window”.
Sources:
https://theconversation.com/windows-are-the-no-1-human-threat-to-birds-an-ecologist-shares-some-simple-steps-to-reduce-collisions-255838?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter%20%20May%2021%202025%20-%203381334473&utm_content=Daily%20Newsletter%20%20May%2021%202025%20-%203381334473+CID_4e6bbf486cd25af0a3a5d1e8b00d5be2&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us
https://images.theconversation.com/files/668052/original/file-20250514-62-vtsefb.JPG?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip
https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/bird-friendly-campus-toolkit
https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/preventing-bird-glass-collisions-at-home.pdf
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/why-birds-hit-windows-and-how-you-can-help-prevent-it
https://images.theconversation.com/files/668048/original/file-20250514-56-ia0w8m.JPG?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush/maps-range
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush/overview
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Thrush/overview
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1676/23-00045
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306362
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaw1313
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0408049101
