Duke Bird-Window Collision Project

Read the article here!

We got a lot of media attention for having the “deadliest” building of all, as you may recall. We identified the engineering building, CIEMAS, as the building with the most bird-window collisions with 72% of the strikes. The obvious solution to prevent collisions on campus, then, was to retrofit this structure and stop about 2/3 of the collisions.

After conversations with the administration in several occasions, and a through media coverage, Duke has decided to make CIEMAS bird friendly! This summer, dotted patterns were applied to the most dangerous structures for birds: glass walkways and large windows. We will continue to monitor collisions at the building to assess the efficacy of the patterns.

We invite other universities and organizations to do the same!

Back in April of this year, the American Birding Association asked us to write a piece on bird-window collisions and “green buildings”. We still don’t know much about the relationship between green certifications and collisions, but we suspect that green buildings have more windows, thus taking more birds. Our group is currently leading a research project on this topic and we hope to elucidate the realtionship soon. Ultimately, we would want green certifications, like LEED, to include bird friendly as a major factor for getting certified.

Read the blog here!

After two years of organized and standardized data gathering, we all know CIEMAS was the number one building when it comes to bird-window collisions. In case you missed it, this building was the center of attention for the local media, being described as a “bird killer”.

The glass walkways in CIEMAS are responsible for many of the bird deaths on this building. When Duke’s administrators asked us what part of the building we would make bird friendly first, we all agreed on the glass hallways (shown below).

These glass hallways are now bird friendly!!! Yes, you heard it: bird friendly!!!!

During this summer months, Duke’s staff have been working hard applying patterned film to the most dangerous structures on CIEMAS. In the close up of the window shown on the left, you can see the dots that will cue birds to the presence of a window, helping prevent collisions.

The dots are spaced according to bird collision studies’ suggestions. Our team will continue to monitor CIEMAS to document the success of these patterned films.

We hope that other universities, institutions, and householders will follow our example in making their structures bird friendly.

We want to thank everyone at Duke University that has helped make this possible, especially folks at the Facilities and Management department and Katie-Rose Levin, Dr. Tallman Trask III, Paul Manning, Casey Collins, and John Noonan. We also thank all the volunteers that have helped collect bird carcasses.

We move forward with promoting changes in other buildings at Duke, in other campuses, and everywhere.

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

After the Duke Chronicle article, the local news picked up on this important piece of information. Our very own Nicolette Cagle and Natalia Ocampo-Penuela spoke about the problem at Duke and how we are trying to solve it.

Watch the 2 minute interview here!

We hope this latest media coverage helps us move forward with actions in making Duke bird friendly.

Duke University’s The Chronicle had an article out today featuring our group’s work in documenting and preventing bird-window collisions. Our project now has more attention from students, faculty, staff, and the administration. By collecting quality data, we are informing which buildings are most dangerous, and should be retrofitted, and the magnitude of this issue at Duke. When comparing Duke’s collision data with other 44 North American campuses, Duke came first. We have more collisions than any other campus, but we are soon going to change that!

Read on!

Led by Scott Winton, our Duke bird-window collisions team has encouraged the Graduate and Professional Student Council to pass a resolution asking Duke’s administration to make our campus bird friendly. We ask that the most dangerous buildings be retrofitted, and that all new buildings should be bird friendly form their design.

Another push to make Duke a bird friendly campus!

Read the resolution: Bird collisions GPSC resolution_final