Bird-Window Collision Project at Duke

Collision Monitoring at Duke

The Duke Bird-Window Collision Project formally began in 2014, building on incidental collision reports collected on campus beginning in 2011. The project was established by Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela, then a PhD student at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, with Dr. Nicolette Cagle serving as its faculty lead. Dr. Cagle continues to direct the project today.

Dr. Cagle is an ecologist, environmental educator, and naturalist; a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Education at the Nicholas School; and Director of Natural and Cultural Resource Interpretation for the Duke Forest. Graduate and undergraduate students have contributed to the project throughout its history. Students in ENVIRON 706: Wildlife Surveys participate in monitoring during spring migration, while other students and volunteers support additional surveys and year-round reporting.

In 2014, Duke was the only North Carolina campus participating in a continent-wide assessment of bird–window collisions. The research identified Duke as a high-collision campus and documented the Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences—commonly known as CIEMAS—as a particularly important collision hotspot. These findings helped support the installation of a dotted bird-safe window treatment at CIEMAS in 2015. Subsequent monitoring has documented substantially fewer collisions at the treated building, demonstrating that research-based mitigation can make a meaningful difference. However, many hazardous windows remain across campus, and continued monitoring and action are needed.

Our Goals

The Duke Bird-Window Collision Project works to identify major collision hotspots, examine how collision patterns vary across buildings, seasons, weather conditions, and years, and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation. Ultimately, we aim to use long-term research to encourage bird-friendly building design and guide practical changes that make Duke’s campus safer for birds.

Duke Assessment

We currently monitor eleven buildings on Duke’s West Campus along four walking routes. These buildings were identified as collision hotspots through earlier research and incidental reports from members of the Duke community. Surveys are conducted during the spring and fall migration seasons, with particular attention to peak migration from April through May and September through October.

Repeated monitoring allows us to identify changes in collision patterns, evaluate treated and untreated buildings, and determine where additional bird-friendly measures are most urgently needed.

View interactive collision map

Improving Our Estimates: The Detectability Study

How many bird–window collisions go undetected? Even careful surveys may underestimate collision frequency because evidence can disappear between monitoring visits. Launched in 2026, the Duke Bird-Window Collision Detectability Study uses standardized study items and motion-activated cameras at Duke campus and Duke Forest sites to investigate how long collision evidence remains visible and what causes it to disappear. The results will help us interpret more than a decade of monitoring data and develop more accurate estimates of the effects of buildings on birds. Learn more about the detectability study and watch Zeheng Li’s video about the project.

Get Involved

This project is open to volunteers. If you want to volunteer, please reach out to Dr. Nicolette Cagle directly or contact us.