The Binghamton University Audubon Society is working to urge the University to prioritize bird safety and prevent collisions with glass windows.

The Audubon Society is a national organization with the mission of protecting birds and their habitats. The University’s chapter of the Audubon Society aims to support conservation and encourage students to birdwatch, organizing events to make birding more accessible to students.

“Our focus is getting students on campus outside and birdwatching, as well as instilling environmental conservation and kind of promoting that on campus,” said Hailey Faurot, the club’s president and a senior majoring in environmental science.

Working with Anne Clark and Julian Shepherd, both biology professors, the Audubon Society has been gathering data on the number of bird deaths due towindow collisions on campus.

According to a study published in PLOS One, building collisions cause more than one billion bird deaths a year. Even in rehabilitative care, about 60 percent of birds that collide with buildings will eventually die due to their injuries.

Data provided by the Audubon Society indicates that Academic A, Science 3 and the Science Library are the buildings on campus where most deadly bird crashes occur because of glass paneling. Using their research, the organization and its collaborating professors are suggesting ways to make campus more bird safe and limit collisions. Shepherd explained that birds tend to be confused by reflective glass, mistake buildings for surrounding trees and fly into windows.

“Birds will simply think, ‘Oh, the trees are there. I’ll just fly to that,’” Shepherd said. “And they come in at probably 25 to 30 miles an hour, and they conk their heads.”

The Audubon Society has tried to contact campus facilities to advocate solutions to this issue and collaborate with administrative staff to report bird strike data to the research team, so the “bird strike data set can be more complete,” said Ari White, a senior majoring in economics and secretary of the Audubon Society.

“We are always excited to build on our robust portfolio of conservation efforts, such as installing bird-safe windows at Science III and other facilities,” said a University spokesperson in a statement to Pipe Dream. “We will continue to pursue these measures in areas where they have proven effective and appropriate.”

Clark, Shepherd and the Audubon Society’s E-Board said proven measures to prevent bird collisions already exist. The Audubon Society wants the University to install bird-safe windows in all new construction on campus. In 2024, research by Clark and Shepherd led to the installation of bird-safe windows in Science 3.

The windows are covered with reflective dots two inches apart, so birds are aware that the flying path is obstructed and avoid trying to fly through the window. Clark said that the installation of the windows was “something on the order of $17,000.”

Inexpensive alternatives to promote bird safety were also suggested. The Audubon Society has previously made reflective vinyl window films to place on windows, leading the birds to avoid flying through.

Excessive lighting at night was another concern from the Audubon Society. Birds are attracted to lights at night, which puts them further at risk of colliding with bright reflective windows.The Audubon Society suggested closing the Glenn G. Bartle Library Tower blinds at night as a way for the University to protect birds from collisions.

As an inexpensive and creative solution, White suggested murals and designs on University windows to prevent birds from hurting themselves on campus.

“We have a very creative and artistic community on campus, and there’s window-safe markers,” White said. “If we had just a project to get people to decorate a bunch of the windows, it would make the campus look more beautiful and it would make the campus safer for birds.”