Businesses try to keep birds from crashing into buildings

Businesses, government agencies and homeowners in Georgia are increasingly heeding pleas to make their buildings safe for birds, especially migrating birds, which die in huge numbers each year from crashing into structures.

The bird-protection measures range from turning off lights at night to coating glass windows with material to reduce reflections and prevent bird strikes.

Some Georgia businesses, agencies and organizations that so far have pledged to keep their lights off at night include the city of Atlanta; Cox Enterprises (five buildings); Southface Institute; the Marshes at Skidaway Island; Highwoods Properties Inc. (four buildings); and several others. (Cox Enterprises owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.)

In addition, Birds Georgia, with a grant from the Disney Conservation Fund, has been applying special bird-deterring products (CollidEscape, Feather Friendly tape) to windows of several buildings, including the Newman Wetlands Center, Chattahoochee Nature Center, Southface Institute and others.

Bird experts say the deadly threats of “building strikes” could be greatly reduced or avoided altogether with widespread use of such measures.

Research shows that the death toll from the problem is dire — as many as 1 billion birds each year in the U.S. Earlier this year, a flock of 32 cedar waxwings died when the songbirds crashed into a glass-covered building in the vicinity of Emory University. It’s only one example, but similar incidents occur innumerable times across the nation each day on average.

According to Birds Georgia: “Bright lights at night (when most birds migrate) can disorient migrating birds, causing them to crash into structures or ‘trap’ them in beams of light, leading to exhaustion. Birds also struggle with reflective surfaces during the day . ... Shiny glass exteriors, internal plants near windows, glass corners, and lots of greenery close to buildings all can be deadly as birds struggle to determine what is and isn’t a reflection and where there are open flyways.”

A bill (H.R. 3781) pending in Congress would mandate that federal buildings be retrofitted to make them safe for birds.

■ IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be last quarter on Wednesday. Mars and Saturn are in the east just before sunrise. Jupiter is low in the west at dusk.