From: Thomas Sumner, MONGABAY.COM, More from this
Affiliate in ENN.com
The sickening thud of a bird crashing into a window is an all-too-familiar
sound for many Canadian homeowners. Birds often mistake windows for openings,
flying into the glass at full speed. A startling new analysis suggests about 22
million Canadian birds die each year from such crashes, researchers reported
Sept. 4 in Wildlife Research.
Undergraduate biology
students at the University of Alberta, supervised by biologist Erin Bayne,
surveyed 1,750 local residents in person and through social media. The
recruited citizens provided the number of fatal bird strikes at their homes
during the previous year.
By extrapolating from these local reports, the
researchers calculated the collision rates for different types of homes and
then estimated the national bird mortality rate. The study did not include bird
strikes on skyscrapers or commercial buildings.
"Most houses have
had zero collisions in the last year, but others had many more," Bayne
told mongabay.com. Rural houses with bird feeders and lots of vegetation
generally had more bird fatalities—as many as 43 in a year.
Photo shows bird silhouette
adhered to a window. Using stickers or objects to break up a window’s
reflection can help prevent bird deaths. "Not surprisingly, when you
have more birds present you have more collisions," Bayne said.
Common birds, like
sparrows, robins and chickadees, accounted for most casualties. Bayne’s study
found no endangered birds killed by windows, but he mentioned that for an
endangered species, "even a few collisions could have a big impact."
Photo by: Sharat
Ganapati via MONGABAY.
Read more at ENN
Affiliate, MONGABAY.