At a glance
Bird collisions with campus buildings cause significant bird mortality, with five buildings accounting for over 50% of… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2023-2024
- Large
- Awarded
- $69,015
- Funding partners
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- Services and Activities Fee (SAF)
Bird collisions with campus buildings cause significant bird mortality, with five buildings accounting for over 50% of collision victims. To mitigate this, the project proposes applying vinyl patterns to glass surfaces at collision hotspots and using vertical cords or wood slats on historically significant buildings, Bloedel Hall and Wink Forest Sciences Lab. Prioritized treatments include transparent railings, sky bridges, curtain walls, and corners at Paccar, Dempsey, and the Life Sciences Building.
Costs range from $5–$10 per square foot depending on materials and installation, with options for local fabrication to maximize budget efficiency. Collaboration among building managers, faculty, students, and specialists ensures project success, aiming to significantly reduce collisions and protect campus bird populations.
While bird-building collisions are ubiquitous and happen daily across campus, contributing to a loss of at least 10,000 birds yearly, five of the 24 buildings studied Summer 22 – Spring 24 account for over 50% of found collision victims. The top five buildings are the connected Paccar and Dempsey Halls, the Life Sciences Building, Wink Forest Sciences Lab, and Bloedel Hall. By applying vinyl patterns to the glass surface areas of these buildings where collisions are most prevalent, design "hot spots," a large number of collisions will be prevented. Additionally, to preserve the aesthetics and materials at the historically significant buildings Wink Forest Sciences Lab and Bloedel Hall, removable external vertical cords or thin wood slats will prevent collisions with these deadly buildings.
These design hot spots are clearly indicated from our two years of data collection at these sites. We would treat the following hot spots in order of urgency: transparent railing at Paccar, two transparent sky bridges at Paccar and Dempsey, two curtain walls facing habitat space at Paccar and the Life Sciences Building, three transparent corners two at Paccar and one at the Life Sciences Building, then transparent corners at Bloedel and Wink Forest Sciences Lab.
Except for Bloedel and Wink Forest Sciences Lab, Feather Friendly customizable vinyl patterns will be applied to the glass surface, costing an average of $5 a square foot if installed locally; with Feather Friendly installation, the cost is, on average, $7 a square foot. For external vertical cords or thin wood slats to cover the transparent corners at Bloedel and Wink Forest Sciences Lab, the average cost is $10 per square foot if ordered from Acopian Bird Savers; however, to ensure we are treating as many buildings as possible within the budget, these modifications can be made through an independent study course in the College of the Built Environments fabrication lab.
The exact square footage needed to cover all the hot spots depends on the project budget and whether we will use UW to install the products or Feather Friendly. Feather Friendly has also agreed to work with our budget.
This project's success relies on the building managers' collective effort for the five listed buildings, faculty advisor Alex Anderson, architecture student Erik Rayas, and PhD student Judy Bowes. Two architectural historians will be consulted in the Bloedel and Wink Forest Sciences Lab retrofits. The departments and companies involved are the College of the Built Environments and their fabrication lab, Feather Friendly, and possibly Acopian Bird Savers. Each member's contribution is crucial to the project's success, making them an integral part of our team.
Judy Bowes
Project lead
- jbowes2@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
Alex Anderson
Team member
- ata@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Faculty
Background
Bird-building collisions kill up to one billion birds annually in the United States (Loss et al., 2014). Collisions with reflective and transparent glass surfaces are the second leading anthropogenic threat to birds, resulting in a 30% loss of net bird populations in North America since 1970 (Rosenburg et al., 2019). With most North American bird species declining due to architectural design choices, Phase 1 of our project collected data to identify which design features have the highest loss rate (design "hot spots") and which species are most vulnerable to collisions on our campus. From this data, the project aims to prevent most collisions on campus by treating "hot spots" in Phase 2 based on the gathered data rather than treating all glass surface areas.
Twenty-two case study sites and campus buildings were chosen on the University of Washington, Seattle Campus (UW) based on their design features, proximity to habitat spaces, and previously reported collisions. For eight weeks over seven seasons (Autumn 22 - Spring 24), the buildings were monitored daily for collisions. The data collected in the study include species, age, location of the collision victims, scavenger details, weather, and behavior observations.
Phase 1 findings
The study's findings as of March 2023 are that the UW campus kills at least 10,000 birds per year, with an estimated up to 15,000 for the years there is an influx of vulnerable species. Winter was the study's deadliest season, with the total number of collisions found to be twice that of autumn or spring. This study is the first collision study to indicate Winter as the deadliest season. The high number of winter collisions could be due to the influx of varied thrush (Ixoreus naevius) in the Winter due to their winter migration route. The species is 76% more vulnerable to collisions than other Pacific Northwest species (DeGroot et al., 2021), representing 21% of UW's total collision victims and 50% of UW's Winter 23 victims. The study found that 16 additional species hit campus buildings regularly. While all the found species are currently of low conservation concern, nine of the 18 are in decline due to anthropogenic threats such as bird building collisions. And the varied thrush and dark-eyed junco lose 0.7% of their net population yearly (The Cornell Lab, 2023; Rosenberg et al., 2019). Five species were steeply declining, and two were slightly declining (The Cornell Lab, 2023; Rosenberg et al., 2019).
The location of the finds indicates the UW campus has four primary design "hot spots," and when paired with nearby habitat space or tree canopies, the collisions increase. These hot spots are transparent glass railing (PACCAR Hall), transparent and reflective glass walkways (PACCAR Hall, Dempsey Hall, and Foege Building), reflective and transparent glass corners (Winkenwerder Forest Lab, Bloedel Hall and The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health), and glass curtain walls reflecting habitat space (Life Sciences Building and Dempsey Hall). Transparent and reflective windows across the 22 campus sites also contributed to the findings; however, these four design features have the most collision events.
Phase 2 – Designing a bird friendly campus
In December 2023, the project's data was used to draft bird friendly design standards for UW's Green Building Standards which plans to require all new UW buildings to be bird friendly according to these guidelines. While protecting new buildings is critical to prevent future collisions, dozens of preventable collisions occur daily across campus, contributing to the 40,000 birds lost during the average undergrad's four years on campus. Retrofitting current campus buildings to protect birds from collisions is not only our responsibility to meet campus sustainability goals, such as protecting biodiversity, but it's also our ethical responsibility to protect local wildlife when we have straightforward solutions available. Phase 2 proposes four retrofit sites, continued monitoring to ensure the retrofits are effective, and continued app development.
Retrofitting collision hot spots
Based on the data collected, treating campus hot spots can reduce building collisions by up to 90%. Treating hot spots is less expensive as it takes fewer resources (materials and time) to install. Treating hot spots, not the entire glass surface area, minimally alters the original building design and desired aesthetic. Using vinyl designs allows Phase 2 of the project to protect birds and for the designs to reflect unrepresented communities on campus while highlighting the departments that live in the buildings. All products are guaranteed for 25 years and have been tested to withstand extreme weather for 50 years.
Continued monitoring
Considering our independent study course, Designing for Conservation – Preventing Bird Building Collisions, is popular among students, the project would continue monitoring buildings for collisions, including where the hot spots are treated, to ensure the products are as effective in reducing collisions as advertised. While these products have been tested for efficacy in controlled settings, there have been very few case studies of how effectively they reduce collisions in occupied buildings.
Using our app, avian impact, as a design tool
The app will continue to be used to detect campus collisions. Planned screens include identifying living birds while recording metrics that inform how birds interact with campus buildings and their location. Additionally, screens will be added to provide designers with examples of available bird friendly products and patterns including filters allowing visualizations of bird friendly patterns helping campus designers and building managers to treat for collisions after the project has ended. Through our app, anyone can see where collisions are happening on campus, calculate which species are most vulnerable, and choose the most effective bird-friendly patterns in one location. (The project lead intends to maintain the app indefinitely, as students are so eager to join the app team that there is a waitlist.)
Timeline
We plan to use Seattle Birds Connect's $5000 donation to treat our first hot spot (PACCAR's Transparent Railing) as our first example to showcase to building managers and designers. Please see the uploaded timeline and budget for our 24/25 goals.
Request amount and budget
How the project will react to funding reductions
With large, complex projects, cuts to funding typically mean cuts to student wages. However, student RAs ensure that the project runs smoothly and that results are reported on time. Unfortunately, by any percent, a reduced amount would have to be taken from the material budget, and the project would attempt to fundraise to cover the materials. This could delay treatment applications and reduce the square footage to be treated for collisions.
Plans for financial longevity
The maintenance of vinyl bird-safe patterns is minimal. They are guaranteed for 25 years, though they have been tested to withstand extreme conditions for 50 years. I do not expect the vinyl to need any maintenance during the life cycle of the buildings.
The app will be led and owned by the founder (Judy Bowes) and accessible to the UW community and the public as student developers are eager to code the app. Additionally, external fundraising will continue after the project to ensure the app is a resource for the UW community and the public.
The resources, publications, and data sets acquired by the project will be publicly available for free on the project's website after publication.
Problem statement
LEED Certified or pending certified buildings account for 53% of collisions recorded at 24 monitored buildings over the last two years. Four of the six deadliest campus buildings are certified LEED Gold or Platinum. Buildings celebrated as sustainable should not passively kill thousands of birds each year, contributing to a loss of biodiversity and negatively impacting the local ecosystem and human health and well-being. Our study identified 29 species among found collision victims, with 17 of these species, over half, in decline. Knowing the large number of birds lost on campus each year, over half of found species are in decline, and simple designs can prevent this loss; it's not only our responsibility to create a more sustainable campus, but it is ethically imperative to prevent bird building collisions.
Measure the impacts
The impacts will be measured by monitoring the treated buildings for collisions and comparing the collision data to the previous two years. This is typical for this field's case studies; however, this project will be the largest completed to date. Additionally, the app can be used by anyone at any location, so after the project ends, the success of the treatment can be monitored for any length of time and after the project ends.
Education and outreach goals
The project would continue outreach through our website, campus tours, class visits, sustainability fairs, and marketing with flyers and stickers. Our project had 118 students contribute to the project for at least one quarter, and we've watched our engagement grow each quarter. Additionally, student volunteers and students in our independent study course are primarily female-presenting or non-binary and identify as part of an underrepresented group, LGBTQIA+, or a first gen student. Our project will continue with these efforts for the next year, including our independent study course.
The app is a great educational resource, and by adding two more features, tracking live birds on campus and interactive bird-safe designs, the UW community will be further engaged with birds and design on campus. Tracking live birds connects people to nature, allows the community to track common or rare species, and even gives insight into which species are more vulnerable to collisions or in decline. Adding screens with information about bird-safe glass and filters that allow the user to "try on" the patterns engages everyone with the project and allows current and future campus designers to view patterns on glass surfaces or building plans. By treating the app as a three-in-one tool, the UW community and any university campus can track collisions, track live birds, and learn how to treat buildings for collisions in one place. Additionally, all users can download their data (which can remain private if desired) without inference from the founders or app team. No collision monitoring projects allow their participants access to the data they collect without a lengthy vetting process and weeks of wait time. Our project wants to change this and enable citizen scientists and community members to control their collision data, downloading it instantly.
Student involvement
The project will have one lead, four research assistants, and 14 volunteer students.
Lead: Judy Bowes
Judy's responsibilities are to lead the project and will spend the summer working with building managers, architects, and key stakeholders, such as the colleges housed in the buildings to be treated to ensure the timeline for the 24/25 academic year is successful. Additionally, during the summer, Judy will treat at least two hot spots, starting with the transparent railing and sky bridges at Paccar/Dempsy Hall. Erik Rayas has already designed these patterns in his case study work for the independent study course.
Summer Delahanty – Lead App, Aesthetics, and Marketing Designer (Human Centered Design Major)
Summer is a talented artist and designer who specializes in human-centered design and usability. She will lead the app team in designing new screens and user experiences and evaluate custom vinyl designs for aesthetics and impact on the occupants.
Erik Rayas – Bird Friendly Designer and Consultant (Architecture Major)
Erik's duties will be to customize vinyl designs to treat the collision hot spots based on client requests and Summer's evaluations of the impact on the occupants.
Kenna Daily – Field Research Lead (Environmental Studies Major)
While monitoring will be a smaller task during this phase, a field researcher must ensure that the volunteers follow the proper protocol and that the monitoring runs smoothly. Kenna has worked on numerous research projects for the College of the Built Environment, College of Environmental Sciences, and NOAA.
Parshvi Balu – Lead App Developer (Informatics Major)
Parshvi will lead the app development team of four volunteer developers. The team will work on incorporating EH&S guidelines for spotting dead birds on campus, adding screens to track live birds and screens that introduce the use of bird bird-safe glass and patterns they can "try on" buildings through filters.
Four volunteer developers
Four students are needed to complete the development team. We have three students training and a waiting list for the fourth position.
Ten student volunteers
Ten student volunteers will actively monitor the treated buildings. These volunteers, who are likely to be part of the independent study course that will continue next year, will play a crucial role in ensuring the effectiveness of our bird collision prevention measures. They will receive credits for their work, making this a valuable learning experience.