North Star tenant "About the well being of all species": Bird Collisions

This is great, Dan. Bird collisions continue to be one of those unrecognized, ongoing tragedies, IMO.  I was happy to see that Guardian was promoting some new UV-visible etched glass options at their AIA booth this year, but it's still a complicating factor in the already challenging world of glazing selection, and an added cost. Does anyone have a short list of "the five things every project should do" or something like that, to provide a low-effort point of entry? 

Not sure if you’ve seen the COTE Top 10 Toolkit draft but it includes a few points on bird friendly design, as written by architects: Link to it here: https://network.aia.org/committeeontheenvironment/viewdocument/aia-cote-top-ten-toolkit-phase-1-d Or follow this directly: https://network.aia.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=3b309447-1472-66d9-f689-283d66865779&forceDialog=0 3. Bird friendly design a. Roughly 100 Million birds die every year in North America by flying into windows. Without bird safety design, every building in the country will kill 1 to 10 birds every year. Strategies that prevent windows from looking like their surrounding environment will project birds and the ecosystems that depend on them. b. Birds tend to fly into expanses of reflective glass. A dense exterior shading system and low reflectivity glass will make windows obvious to birds. c. Bird safety is yet another benefit of limited glazing area. Keeping the window wall ratio below 40% will improve energy performance, daylighting, thermal comfort and reduce bird deaths. d. Minimize glass in the tree canopy or near water features to avoid reflected foliage and water look like they continue into the building. This is known as the oasis effect. e. Bird safe glazing has a pattern that birds can see but humans cannot. It's more expensive than standard glazing, but allows for unobstructed expanses of glass that birds won't fly into. -Kjell ................................................................. Kjell Anderson AIA, LEED AP BD + C Associate Director of Sustainable Design LMN 801 Second Avenue, Suite 501 Seattle, WA 98104 T 206 682 3460 lmnarchitects.com<%20lmnarchitects.com%20> F

The recent issue of Audbon Magazine had a great article about this topic: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/fall-2018/by-design-architectural-awakening-could-save Catherine Callaway, AIA, LEED AP Senior Associate Kirksey | Architecture 6909 Portwest Drive | Houston Texas 77024 | www.kirksey.com o 713 426 7564 | m 713 305 5367 | catherinec@kirksey.com Houston + Austin

Studio Gang's work on this a decade ago was interesting, I thought. http://studiogang.com/researchproject/bird-collisions-problem-solution-opportunity *Lance Hosey*, FAIA, LEED Fellow www.lancehosey.com

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/8d1c-Bird-Friendly-Best-Practices-Glass.pdf Some of you might have this already from City of Toronto

I highly recommend the SF Planning Standards for Bird Safe Buildings. http://sf-planning.org/standards-bird-safe-buildings We are applying/tuning this standards to several airport projects: Modify Building (Architecture)

• Reduce known bird traps
  • Windowed courtyards
  • Open-topped atria
  • Glass sky-walks
  • Building corners
  • Full height curtainwall
• Light Pollution Reduction
  • Interior
    • All interior lighting to be turned off by the appropriate nighttime personnel after hours (limited ability due to hours of operation)
    • Motion Sensors or zone controls on interior light to reduce perimeter lighting
  • Exterior
    • Reduce unneeded night lighting
    • Shield Lighting
    • Avoid uplighting, light spillage, use green and blue lights when possible
• Frit or UV-Reflective Coating
  • Mylar tape is a cost effective, albeit less aesthetic version.
• External Screens
• Architectural Features – overhangs, louvers, awnings
• Netting

  Modify Habitat (Landscape Maintenance)

• Remove seed-bearing plants to eliminate food sources
• Use insecticides or pesticides to eliminate food sources for insect-eating birds
• Covering nearby ponds with netting to prevent birds from landing
• Removing brush and trees that serve as attractive nesting sites
• Keep grass mowed short so it is not as suitable for bird shelter

  Modify Bird Behavior (Natural / Systems Prevention)

• Use sonic cannons (infrasound), recorded predator calls and other noise generators to disrupt birds
• Use lasers at dawn and dusk to simulate predators and scare birds away
• Use Birds of Prey - Fly trained falcons over roosting areas to disrupt birds before they nest
• Train dogs to track through the habitat and teach birds that the area has many predators

  Modify Plane Behavior (Operations)

• Training spotters with binoculars and scopes to pinpoint hazardous birds areas and directing planes to different runways or approaches
• Using radar equipment to track the movement and density of bird flocks to predict their behavior and manage control techniques more effectively
• Adjusting flight times to avoid the busiest hours for bird activity, such as early morning and late evening or during peak migration periods

 

Hello, Tying into an old conversation... Can you recommend a coating or film that can be applied to installed windows in order to reduce bird injury / mortality from in-flight collisions? This is for a residential project with a range in temperature from +20 C (68 F) to -20 C (-4 F). Thanks! Mona Mona Lemoine, Architect AIBC, MRAIC, LEED AP BD+C, RELi AP Senior Sustainable Design Specialist t +16044841052     

Mona, I specified this on a project a couple of years ago.  https://www.conveniencegroup.com/featherfriendly/feather-friendly Basically dots that are applied to the exterior surface of the window. yours, jp