Maine Audubon says as many as 988 million birds die each year in the U.S. after accidentally colliding with windows.
Nick Lund, advocacy and outreach manager for Maine Audubon, says birds see sky and trees reflected in windows and fly into them. He says a recent study shows most birds don't survive a strike even if they fly away.
"There are often internal injuries that are not present on birds even when they sort of recover. The study last week shows 70% have a fatal or long-lasting injury from a strike," he says, "so trying to avoid collisions is the best strategy to protect birds."
Lund says any homeowner can apply decals or tape to their windows at a low cost, or use screens year-round to protect birds. And there are now bird-safe windows on the market that can be used in new construction.
BirdSafe Maine, a collaboration between Maine Audubon, the University of Southern Maine and the Portland Society for Architecture, works to raise awareness of the bird strike problem and its solutions. This year it chose businesses, schools, designers and homeowners for awards to honor their efforts to protect birds.
Derek and Jeannette Lovitch of Durham were given the Award for Residential Excellence for designing their new home with two types of bird-safe windows. Derek Lovitch says the windows increased the cost by about 2%, but making windows safe for birds doesn't have to break the bank.
"What we're asking everyone to do is to care about the birds in their yards. Even if you're not a birder, the birds out there are doing ecosystem services and putting them at risk is not going to help us in the long run and the products out there can make every window safe for not a lot of money," he says.
Lovitch says he and his wife, who are biologists, wished they weren't the first bird-safe home in Maine but with many windows facing gardens and a pond it was the right decision.
