Heidi Trudell
Heidi is the creator of the Facebook group Dead Birds 4 Science and the website Just Save Birds. An advocate for bird-safe glass and construction, she volunteers on boards or committees of regional conservation non-profit organisations in the south-east Michigan area, including Detroit Audubon, Black Swamp Bird Observatory and the Bird Center of Michigan.
“I have been bird-focused for as long as I can remember. When I was seven, I picked up my first roadkill – an adult male Indigo Bunting on the central Texas coast. By the time I took up birding when I was 13, I was aware that dead birds could be donated to science. The limiting factor was freezer space and familial patience – nobody else in my family was into birds.
“My career has bounced in different directions and a few times I’ve nearly managed to escape human-caused-mortality issues, but I can’t unlearn it. There are glamorous bird areas like ringing, but once you see windows as dangerous you can’t look away. There’s a lot of well-meaning but misguided information out there about handling injured birds, so trying to circulate accurate information is the goal, and I’ve done outreach on this regardless of my day job.
“Windows are the second-highest cause of bird mortality (after outdoor cats) in the USA, so addressing window mortality helps a variety of birds in the long term. Essentially, I research collisions and consult with architects, the glass industry and academic campuses to make their buildings safe for birds. I also push for the adoption of best practices at building-code level, because it’s far too easy for developers to take shortcuts that undermine the effectiveness of bird-safe codes.
“I have experienced a sense of dismissiveness. Despite 19 years of experience, I occasionally get pushback on why I don’t have a higher-level degree, or some level of professional certification. Early on, the internet provided enough anonymity that people assumed I was a professor, but when I became active with non-profit boards in my mid-30s, people assumed I was an intern. It seems I am a better mouthpiece than a hands-on activist, and age and gender have had a lot to do with it.”