Madison zoo polar bears AND birds benefit from window treatment donation

Just in time for peak fall bird migration, Wisconsin polar bears Nora, Siku and Berit get bird-friendly windows!

Staff and volunteers for Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison spent two days in August applying window treatments to the bears' enclosure to prevent birds hitting the windows.

The treatments, called Bird Divert™ Clear UV, are applied in sheets to the outside of glass. The sheets are peeled back to leave behind a grid of clear markers activated by UV rays that birds can see and steer away from. They have been shown to reduce collisions by 75-80%.

The treatments were donated by Feather Friendly Bird Collision Deterrent Markers and by the zoo’s concessionaire, SSA Group. SOS Save Our Songbirds facilitated the Feather Friendly donation as part of our ongoing partnership with the zoo to help treat problem windows and engage visitors in easy ways to help save songbirds at home.

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance Bird Collision Corps volunteers have been monitoring these and other windows at the zoo during bird migrations since 2024. They identify which windows are problems for birds so they can be treated.

The zoo has since treated the Carousel building, the Cape Porcupine enclosure, windows at the Animal Health Center building, and office windows.

Each treatment that goes up reduces the number of collisions that happen at the zoo. Thank you Henry Vilas Zoo for saving songbirds!