Flying High The Ascension of Bird-Safety Films by Chris Collier s many as one billion birds die each year from building colli-sions. The National Audubon Society says collision-based fatalities account for 2 to 9% of all birds in North America in any given year, making “building strikes second only to feral and free-roaming cats as a source of human-caused avian mortality in the United States.” Daytime crashes occur when birds mistake reflections of open skies or nearby vegetation for the real thing. Window film suppliers and deal-22 W indoW F ilm A ers have come to the rescue of their feathered friends. Pushing for Change In November 2022, Northwestern University’s Associated Student Government’s Sustainability Committee urged the University to apply patterned plastic film on windows at Mudd Science and Engineering Library. It’s the site of more than 14% of annual bird deaths and injuries on campus, according to data from Chicago Bird Collision Monitors. Created in October 2022, the “Petition to Make Mudd Library Bird Safe” had more than 500 signatures as of November 14, 2022. Educational insti-tutions are just one segment of society seeking answers to the avian fatalities. Veteran Film Team serves the Washington, D.C., area with a squad of more than five installers. Owner Seth Clarke and his team completed a bird-safety film installation spanning several thousand square feet at a medi-cal research company in 2021. The proj-www.windowfilmmag.com
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