On June 24th the local associate of CBS and Fox, WRAL, features our bird-window collision project at Duke. This is the first time on a media appearance that Duke University has made a statement. CIEMAS, the building that takes about 74% of the collisions on campus will soon be retrofitted with patterned film that will help birds recognize windows as barriers, avoiding collisions.

Watch the news story here!

On June 21st, blogger Max Perilstein wrote a post about the need to make bird-friendly glass a solution for bird collisions instead of the causing factor. His blog was published in “Glass” magazine and talks about our Duke University collision project as an example of collisions that could well be prevented with the right kind of glass. At Duke, we now hope to move forward with making existing and new buildings bird friendly. Soon we hope to show you how we are preventing collisions on campus.

Read the blog here!

On June 17th the local newspaper The News & Observer published an article showing preliminary results from our bird-window collision project at Duke, and what we are doing to change the faith of collision victims. CIEMAS, the engineering building, currently takes 74% of the collisions out of a pool of 7 buildings we survey. Althought this building is certified as LEED, a “green” certification, it’s large windows and glass tunnel are a huge obstacle to migratory and resident birds.

Read the complete article, including quotes from our project leaders, here!

Through our leader Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela, our team participated in the all members EREN (Ecological Research as Education Network) meeting in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania druing June 10-12th. One of the projects in the EREN network is the bird-window collision project in 40 North American campuses, led by Steve Hager and Brad Cosentino. Duke is part of that project and, by far, the campus with the highest number of collisions, with comparable effort and standardized techniques.

Participants from other campuses, and the project leaders, had a chance to look at the data collected and discuss data analyses. A peer-reviewed article should be ready by the end of 2015.

Photo by Steve Hager