Sharing and saluting progress in making windows safer for birds
Up to 3.5 billion birds die every year in the United States after flying into windows, nearly half at our home windows. The good news is there are many good options to make windows safer, and Wisconsinites are tackling their worst windows for birds.
We salute and thank everyone who has treated their windows to protect birds! Here are just a few recent examples of Wisconsin progress and good old ingenuity in helping birds beat this serious threat.
Badgerland Girl Scout Ellie Meng and her troop contributed $800 to partially fund installation on Aug. 4 of window treatments at the new Door Creek Park pavilion in far east Madison. City of Madison Parks paid for the other half. The project was a partnership involving city parks, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, Ellie (a presenter at our Aug. 22 field trip to the Dane County Humane Society’s Wildlife Center), other volunteers, and the manufacturer of the treatment, Feather Friendly, which discounted the material. Watch a news video. Ellie, a Monona Grove High School junior, has also installed window treatments at the Dane County Humane Society’s Wildlife Center and monitors the Wildlife Center’s windows during bird migration. She presents about the dangers and solutions to bird-window collisions to civic, school and church groups, and is working to pass an ordinance in Cottage Grove requiring bird friendly glass on large commericial and residential buildings.
SOS volunteer Tom Ziebell of Oshkosh advised Mosquito Hill Nature Center in New London on the pros, cons and installation tips for several treatment options. He gave the center several Feather Friendly collision tape kits to put up and suggested they put up different treatments side by side so visitors could see them on actual windows.
Devin Biggs of Madison has sold 300 of the Avi-Dot Bird-Saver Window Stencil, below, since creating this adaptable, low-cost solution for preventing bird-window collisions in 2023. The 7.5" X 11.5" plywood stencil costs $25 and allows the user to apply a 2 x 2 inch dot-grid to window exteriors to break the reflective/transparent window illusion that causes bird strikes. Find the Avi-Dot in Devin’s Etsy store; marker sold separately.
Carl Gierke of Shiocton realized he could use leftover 2-by 4-inch wire fencing to prevent birds from hitting. He put his window guards up at his house and friends’ too. Carl enjoys the occasional chickadee, Downy woodpecker, or tree frog hanging onto the mesh and peering in, providing face-to-face encounters. “The real pleasure comes in knowing you’re helping birds survive,” he says. Read Carl’s story and instructions, and watch a video view from inside.
Schlitz Audubon