It’s estimated that between 100 million and over a billion birds die every year from flying into windowpanes in the United States. Why such a large range? Because scientists have a hard time estimating bird strikes based on hard data alone as many occur at homes and various office buildings across the nation. Birds flying into windows of buildings and homes is a serious issue, especially for threatened or endangered species. While the jury is still out on just how much bird window strikes impact conservation efforts, there are ways to help this issue. First, Bird Safety and Window Films we must understand why bird strikes happen and secondly, we must explore ways to prevent them.

Why Bird Strikes Happen

Bird vision isn’t refined enough to discern between a clear glass pane of window and empty space they can fly through. They quite literally cannot see windows. While window strikes are only one of many causes of bird deaths in the US, it is a preventable one. And aside from killing or injuring the bird, window strikes can also damage, crack or shatter windows. Most window strikes tend to happen up to the third or fifth floor of most buildings, especially if those windows reflect nearby vegetation. Building windows account for a majority of bird window strikes in this country.

The Solution: Window Films

How to prevent bird window strikes from happening? Make the window more visible to the bird’s eyes. 3M is doing just that with their Feather Friendly Collision Deterrent Window Films. Feather Friendly window films are barely discernable to humans but allow birds to better “see” the windows, helping them avoid collisions with the glass. Feather Friendly window films preserve the general aesthetic for people while increasing visibility for birds that would otherwise fly into windowpanes. At this time, Feather Friendly window films are available for commercial applications.

Protecting birds from collisions with man-made structures is important as stewards of the environment and for the conservation of our North American bird populations. To learn more about making your building bird safe and Feather Friendly, please check out the information on Bird Safety and Window Films on our website. You can also give Carolina Solar Control a call to learn more about how you can protect our local bird populations with Feather Friendly window films.