SHELBURNE — Just outside the window in front of Bruce and Marcia Fowle’s dining table  recently, birds took their turns at a green feeder hanging off the side of the house. A grid of small square stickers on the window gave the couple confidence that their feathered friends wouldn’t fly into the glass. 

The couple sat with John Lomas, a Hinesburg furniture maker, and tried to identify each bird that took its feed in the snowy yard. The gaggle had become friends over their mutual love for the avian animals — and their mutual concern about the threat buildings can pose to them. 

“Any time there’s a bird and glass, there’s a threat. Anywhere. Not just in cities,” Marcia said. 

More than 1 billion birds collide with glass every year in the United States, with most fatal collisions happening at homes and buildings shorter than four stories, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The collisions happen because reflections in glass tend to disorient birds, creating the appearance of a space in front of them rather than a flat surface. 

Bruce, a New York City architect known for his environmentally sustainable designs, moved to Shelburne two-and-a-half years ago with Marcia, who for years ran a bird conservation group in the Big Apple. Since making the move, the couple, along with Lomas, said they think bird collisions receive too little attention in Vermont. 

In November, the Fowles and Lomas helped host an event for about 40 architects at Burlington architecture firm TruexCullins to talk about bird-friendly designs with people in the industry. Lomas and the Fowles are pushing the latter’s retirement community, Wake Robin in Shelburne, to outfit windows with new features. And they hope to host some educational events in town this spring. 

Kent McFarland, a conservation biologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, said bird collisions are often less monitored in rural and suburban areas. 

Though Vermont may not have towering sky scrapers, the state still has buildings with glass, making bird kills possible. “The ingredients (for collisions) are there,” McFarland said. 

How can you prevent birds from hitting your windows?

Experts recommend buildings use alternatives to typical clear glass to prevent bird collisions. Glass that’s frosted or etched with patterns can give birds the image of a solid surface, rather than a reflection. Ultraviolet patterned glass is visible to birds but appears transparent to the human eye.

Bruce cofounded the firm that designed the Reuters building and The New York Times building and redesigned the Javits Center, all in New York. The latter is one he especially points to as an example of preventing bird collisions through building design. Lomas admires his work and the pair has bonded over a common idea: A building isn’t sustainable if it harms birds. 

Naturally, Bruce’s pioneering bird friendly designs take inspiration from his wife. “I’m into birds because I’m married to Marcia,” he said. 

Marcia grew up in a suburb of Boston where the Massachusetts Audubon Society was based, a place that fostered her love for birds. In the 1990s she joined the New York City Audubon Society, now called the New York City Bird Alliance. 

When she later became the organization’s executive director, the organization started a project to monitor and research bird collisions in the city and spread awareness for the issue. 

The org lobbied local leaders, and in 2020 the city passed a law aimed at reducing bird collisions. The law, called Local Law 15, requires developers to use bird-friendly designs and materials when undertaking new construction and some renovation projects. 

According to the group, anywhere from 90,000 to 230,000 birds die in New York City each year from collisions with glass. Marcia and her colleagues have seen that phenomena up close. 

Marcia said that one of her colleagues, on her way to work everyday, walked around the Twin Towers and picked up the bodies of dead birds, she said. It led the group to begin freezing the bodies and keeping a tally, Marcia said. 

Then that work started to rub off on Marcia’s husband.

“I was ridden with guilt because I was designing high-rise buildings all over New York with lots of glass,” Bruce said. 

In 2009, his firm began redesigning the Jacob K. Javits Center, a convention center on the west side of Manhattan. The original facade of the building was almost completely made of glass, some of which was opaque and some of which was transparent, Bruce said. 

“It was nasty because it was a very dark but very highly reflective glass,” Bruce said. He knew that meant birds were flying into the surface. 

The city, which was paying for the redesign, didn’t care about making the building more bird friendly, Bruce said. But officials did care about making it more energy efficient — so his firm considered all different types of glass.

“I had birds in mind the whole time, but I couldn’t say that,” Bruce said. 

The final design used transparent glass covered in a dense pattern of dots. Bruce said the design reduced the energy consumption of the building by 25% and stopped birds from collisions. The design also replaced the original roof with one made of sedum plants, which lived on atop a thin membrane of earth and attracted birds to stop or nest. Last Bruce heard, birders had spotted 64 different species on the roof, he said. 

“It’s easier for people to see the problem in a city. But the problem exists everywhere. And if we could see every dead bird that was killed in the state of Vermont, by glass, it would be enormous,” Marcia said. 

McFarland, from the ecostudies center, said he’s never seen any research on bird collisions in Vermont, but he’s sure they happen. The Fowles and Lomas said the same thing. 

McFarland said there are also simple measures people can take to prevent bird collisions with the windows at their home or office. Bug screens, sticker decals, tempura paint or string on the outside of windows can break up the image of a reflection for birds. Experts recommend spacing obstacles like paint or decals in a grid two inches apart.

Charlotte Oliver is a freelance journalist in Vermont.

This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.

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