Sidebar: Native Landscaping for Biodiversity
Beware Birds and Glass
It’s no good inviting birds to your site if you’re going to kill them once they get there. But that’s just what you’re doing if you aren’t judicious about how and where you use glass on buildings that are near places where you’ve restored native habitat.
The issue of fatal bird strikes was first addressed comprehensively by BuildingGreen in 2005, but policies and design practices have only recently started to change.
Heidi Trudell is a consultant who helps architects and facility professionals assess and address the risk of bird strikes. “If they’ve done their native landscaping, they are actively attracting birds to a place that is more dangerous,” she cautioned.
Trudell said the worst culprits are not skyscrapers but rather low-rise non-residential buildings. “The worst building I monitor has 600 hits a year. It is three stories, beautifully landscaped,” Trudell said. Of the 600 strikes, about 250 to 300 are lethal.
And don’t expect “bird-safe” glass (which has UV patterns that birds can see but humans can’t) to save the day, Trudell cautions. “Not all birds even see UV. Peregrine falcons are the celebrities of the bird-strike world. UV would not do anything for them.” Also, “doves are a huge problem.” Of the UV products that are on the market, “in some circumstances, in some instances, under some lighting conditions, [they] probably do work reasonably well. But I can’t strongly endorse them.” Fritting and other strategies are far more effective.
That’s part of the reason Trudell is working with the U.S. Green Building Council to change the LEED pilot credit that addresses bird safety. The credit is largely based on “threat factors” released by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), but these numbers are developed using tunnel testing: “birds fly down a tunnel, and there is a thin net at the end. The threat factor rating is based on how many birds swerve to avoid it,” she explained. “The testing is done in an extremely artificial setting. It’s not a great indicator of how well a product will perform.” She added, “The LEED credit itself has good intentions, but ABC and several of us are working to make it actually meaningful and not intimidating.”
Sadly, it’s not just the birds that are affected by bird strikes. Trudell tells the story of a weekend security guard who had to clean all the dead birds off the sidewalks and patios before people came to work on Monday. “She was traumatized,” Trudell said.
“I just wish that architects knew about [bird safety] beyond just a continuing education credit—actually taking it to heart,” said Trudell.
Audubon Minnesota offers extensive guidance on building for birds.
