Call for Bird-Safe design submissions
Birds delight our skies with color and song. They consume insects, pollinate plants, and entertain those lucky and thoughtful enough to observe their presence. They negate disease, removing carrion where it is found. They have been our muses throughout art history, as well as our warnings and metaphors through stories passed down.
Birds contribute greatly to the health of an ecosystem but their numbers are declining as human expansion consumes habitat, contributes to a warming climate (which disrupts the balance of each interconnected biological community), and creates new, confusing obstacles that impede safe flight.
It is this last point that we are presently concerned with and striving to amend on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus. Several buildings have been identified as particularly problematic, resulting in many fatal bird-to-window collisions. It is not that birds are unintelligent and crash into buildings out of ignorance, rather that their intelligence and perception of the environment is different from our own. Reflective windows mirror their surrounding environment and are especially lethal when surrounded by desirable landscaping; birds attempt to fly to something they see in the reflection. Skyways are equally problematic with the perception that they can be flown through, as clear glass does not signal a barrier. Striking one of these surfaces in mid flight causes internal trauma, leaving a bird either stunned and vulnerable on the ground or dead upon impact, with even small songbirds cruising the sky at an average of 30mph.
We have the approval.
We have the institutional support.
We need a design.
We want to invite the UMN community to get engaged with their shared environment, to foster stewardship, and to promote aesthetic and responsible cohabitation.
For Call details CLICK HERE
Birds delight our skies with color and song. They consume insects, pollinate plants, and entertain those lucky and thoughtful enough to observe their presence. They negate disease, removing carrion where it is found. They have been our muses throughout art history, as well as our warnings and metaphors through stories passed down.
Birds contribute greatly to the health of an ecosystem but their numbers are declining as human expansion consumes habitat, contributes to a warming climate (which disrupts the balance of each interconnected biological community), and creates new, confusing obstacles that impede safe flight.
It is this last point that we are presently concerned with and striving to amend on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus. Several buildings have been identified as particularly problematic, resulting in many fatal bird-to-window collisions. It is not that birds are unintelligent and crash into buildings out of ignorance, rather that their intelligence and perception of the environment is different from our own. Reflective windows mirror their surrounding environment and are especially lethal when surrounded by desirable landscaping; birds attempt to fly to something they see in the reflection. Skyways are equally problematic with the perception that they can be flown through, as clear glass does not signal a barrier. Striking one of these surfaces in mid flight causes internal trauma, leaving a bird either stunned and vulnerable on the ground or dead upon impact, with even small songbirds cruising the sky at an average of 30mph.
We have the approval.
We have the institutional support.
We need a design.
We want to invite the UMN community to get engaged with their shared environment, to foster stewardship, and to promote aesthetic and responsible cohabitation.
For Call details CLICK HERE