Photo: Cai Yan
On March 23, Associate Professor Binbin Li of Environmental Science held a presentation introducing the university’s Anti-Bird Collision Survey Project and ongoing exhibition in the university library. The exhibition titled “A Mirror to the Sky: Understanding and Preventing Bird Collisions” opened on March 13. It was curated in collaboration between the university Library, B-LAB, Environmental Research Center, National Bird Collision Prevention Network and DKU Empower.
The exhibition describes the present state of bird collision data collection and prevention initiatives on campus and around China. It also displays preserved bird carcasses collected by survey volunteers throughout the course of the campus research project. Dozens of bird-related books were pulled from the library stacks and are displayed throughout the lobby.
DKU’s campus-wide survey project was the first large-scale bird collision recording project to be established in China. It has joined the nationwide China Collision Action Alliance (CCAA). Along with Fatal Light Aware Canada and Lights Out Texas, the CCAA is one of the top 3 global largest citizen science projects dealing with bird collision prevention.
During her presentation, Li introduced the establishment and current position of the ongoing project, connecting bird collisions to environmentalism, conservation, architecture, and volunteer philosophy.
The university’s campus buildings are composed of up to 40% glass surfaces. According to the data collected by student project volunteers so far, the Innovation Building and Water Pavilion are the biggest collision risk hotspots on campus. The main species affected are the most commonly seen and heard in the area, including light-vented bulbuls, Chinese blackbirds, spotted doves and Eurasian tree sparrows.
Li says beyond recording collision incidents, the project is also focused on implementing solutions across campus to prevent them. This is mainly done through “retrofitting” – the process of adding anti-collision features to already-existing structures. Glass windows pose the highest risk for bird collisions because birds confuse the reflection for open space they can fly through. For this reason, adding opaque designs to the outside of glass window panels is an effective way to avoid collisions.
Li also emphasized the importance of community-based volunteer science projects. She explained that by making protection and conservation work accessible to those outside strictly the fields of ornithology or environmental science, raising awareness about the issue among the general public becomes much more realistic. She said one example of such a success was netizens managing to convince organizers to cancel an installation planned to be installed in Dongting lake because environmentalists raised concerns about its potential collision risks.
Li explained China is a particularly important site for conservation because of its relatively high biodiversity levels. This is due to its diverse geography spanning several different climate zones. Furthermore, one of the most travelled “flyways” for migratory birds overlaps with China’s eastern coast including Suzhou and Shanghai where large-scale urbanization and city development is taking place, leading to significant habitat loss and other threats to birds such as stray feral city cats.
Li ended by acknowledging a question she said she hears quite often: Why should we care about bird collisions? Li argued that it is one way to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations: “Concern for the vulnerable is the best measure of civilization progress and empathy.”
Li also noted that people can quickly forget how dangerous city-dwelling can be after natural disasters pass through, and we seldom make the connection between our everyday choices with our planet’s most pressing ecological problems. Facing death directly can help connect us to how our everyday practices are impacting other vulnerable populations around us, not just humans.
The bird collision survey project is currently recruiting volunteers to help collect data. Registration is open to all university community members and can be found here. The library exhibition will remain open on the west wing of the first floor lobby until June 21.
