The Oregon State University, Jyshaun Talbert, collected evidence of his research on birds, who received a call to the window last spring. Friends who eat in a dining room on the campus experienced a Cooper's Hawk and confused that he had a clear way and collided full strength into the glass wall of the building.
The bird broke his wing, fell on the concrete citizen and died.
Talbert hurried to the building. “It was a very ugly scene,” he said. A cloth was placed over the bird's head because “dark rooms make a bird safer and calmer,” said the student in the second year, who studied fishing, wildlife and nature conservation.
With experience in a nature center in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and his bird research since his arrival almost two years ago in Oregon, the 20 -year -old Talbert knew that the bird had to be put to sleep, for which he was trained. Instead, security on campus took the bird away.
There was nothing more Talbert, a veterinarian or a licensed wild animal rehabilitator could have done to help the falcon.
However, people can take measures in their houses and business of bird visibility to prevent birds from falling against a glazed surface and thinking that it is a clear fly.
According to the National Audubon Society and the Bird Alliance of Oregon, more than 1 billion birds in the United States, almost half of residential properties per year, die in residential properties in the United States.
Birds are on the move in urban and rural environments, said Talbert, who presented his report on window collisions on the Willamette Valley Bird Symposium at OSU on Saturday with information about the campus' lighting program.
International news about the Eurasian Eagle-Uff Flaco, which escaped the New Yorker Central Park Zoo and died in 2024 after he had come together with a building, raised awareness of the need for a bird-friendly design, said Talbert. The 1,000 songbirds were also died after they had hit the windows from the Chicago Waterfront during the autumn migration in 2023.
Experts recommend increasing the visibility of transparent and reflective surfaces and dimming artificial lights inside and outside. Screens and strategically placed markings for gridless windows make it possible for birds to recognize no reflections in the landscape and an open sky as a round.
When a bird hits a window, move it to a safe place. If it does not recover within an hour, call the Bird Alliance of Oregons Wildlife Care Center Hotline under 503-292-0304 or bring the unconscious bird to a local wildlife rehabilitator.
Go to the stunned bird from behind to avoid that with clean hands or gloves in a paper bag or a shoe box with a newspaper, a paper towel or a cloth is placed in a paper bag or a shoe box to keep it warm.
People are encouraged to report bird collision or injuries for the incidentalist or the growing Global Bird Collision Mapper.
Get away birds from buildings
A male, right and female house finches fed on Sunday, April 28, 2024, in Southeast Portland, Oregon.Mark Graves/the Oregonian
Experts with the bird -friendly building initiative of the Audubon and others recommend closing blinds or curtains to avoid frightening, cannot accelerate into the glass.
Housing plants in front of large glass panes can also confuse birds. The Vogel Alliance of Oregon recommends moving houseplants from windows in which strikes are common.
There are more anti -collision techniques here:
Mark Glass: Birds need strong tips on or around glass to warn them that it is there.
Install screens and UV-reflecting window film, hanging lines of Paracord or transparent mylar strips and squares on the outside of windows and sliding doors to break the reflection, see the birds. The markings should be 2-4 inches apart.
Talbert likes Featherly's quarter-inch gray or black squares or circles that birds can see, but not block the view or natural light.
Dark lights: Portland, Eugene, Bend and other cities have adopted Audubon's light program and reduced the non -essential lighting during the migration season. Slight pollution birds that cause death by getting lost and endangered by exhaustion or collisions.
Use the BirdCast tool to receive the warning reports on high bird traffic based on real-time radard data during the migrations from mid-March to early June and late August to mid-November.
Make sure that the outdoor lighting is properly shielded and aims downwards. Choose a warm LED (below 3,000 Kelvins).
Switch off the decorative outdoor garden and the floodlights, replace the flash lighting for non -flowing lighting if possible and install automatic motion sensors.
Switch off the lights on the upper floors, use tasks and surface lighting instead of outlawing and cover windows, close blinds or roll off parasols.
– Janet Eastman covers design and trends. Reach them at 503-294-4072, jeastman@oregonian.com and follow her on x @Janeterastman.