{"id":54168,"date":"2024-06-26T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=54168"},"modified":"2024-08-15T07:56:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T11:56:07","slug":"advances-in-window-safety-come-to-the-cornell-lab-and-cornell-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/advances-in-window-safety-come-to-the-cornell-lab-and-cornell-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Advances in Window Safety Come to the Cornell Lab and Cornell Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Updated June 2024; originally published September 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year, up to one billion birds die from window strikes in the U.S, species of all sizes brought down by the invisible tragedy of glass. A growing body of research surrounding the severity of window collisions\u2014and ways to avoid them\u2014has resulted in more organizations moving toward bird-friendly buildings, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constructed in 2002, the Lab\u2019s home in Sapsucker Woods was designed to harmonize with the landscape and allow visitors to immerse themselves in the world of birds. Its two-story structure, built with natural materials like cedar and stone, is inconspicuously set beneath the treeline of the surrounding 220-acre sanctuary. Overlooking the pond and feeder garden is a tall, glass-fronted observatory, which features an 84-foot-wide, two-story expanse of windows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The glass-fronted observatory at the Cornell Lab visitor center offers sweeping views, but the windows also reflected trees and sky, posing a hazard to birds. Image \u00a9Cornell Lab.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In a test, the Lab installed Acopian BirdSavers on some observatory windows (left of image). The thin cords create vertical lines that interrupt the reflections, deterring birds without severely affecting the view. After installation on the remainder of the observatory, all windows across the Lab will be safer, thanks to Acopian BirdSavers. Image by Miyoko Chu.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lab\u2019s architects realized these large swaths of glass posed a threat to birds, but not to the extent known today: at the time of construction, there was limited research about the scale of window strikes, and proper guidance for preventing collisions had yet to emerge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look at the Lab of Ornithology from the outside, you can see that the glass is set back from metal pillars and framing, rather than being flush,\u201d said Miyoko Chu, the Lab\u2019s senior director of science communications. \u201cFrom an architectural perspective, it was thought that birds would see the metal and change course before striking the glass. But research today shows that birds don\u2019t use the same visual cues as humans. They don\u2019t recognize that there is a hard surface between the metal, so they try to fly through\u2014perhaps as if flying between the trunks and branches of trees.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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