Yesterday, it was reported that Flaco the owl had unfortunately passed one year after his escape via a window strike. How can this tragedy be used for good to try and improve infrastructure in New York City and elsewhere to try and limit the number of avoidable bird deaths in our cities?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/23/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-zoo-dead.html
I’ve had success with anti-strike bird clings, which come in many styles. I’ve used them for decades.
They really seem to help for low-rise buildings; have not heard about their use on high rises .
Examples:
anti bird strike window clings
maybe the owl hit a window, but did he hit a window because he was already sick? a raptor living in any city is likely going to come across a poisoned rat or pigeon at some point, and that seems to be a bigger threat for urban raptors than windows.
there’s not a lot that you can do after a tall building is constructed to avoid bird strikes. probably the most you can do is to try to convince folks to turn off lights at night during migration season. smaller buildings have more options, but there’s no perfect solution. decals and even special glass are better than nothing, but they won’t prevent every strike.
The American Bird Conservancy has some good info on bird-window collisions and some recommended solutions.
really, the best solution is for people to live more densely. that leaves more space for nature and reduces the number of windows that would otherwise be there for birds to hit.
Just be sure to maintain physical distancing when pandemics come along.
That, and take into consideration mental health as it relates to crowding and the need for space. Don’t a lot of us go out into nature as part of our mental health regimen? Don’t some of us experience chronic stress because we hear constant traffic noise at home?
I agree, I’m all for compact cities with good public transport instead of (sub)urban sprawl. But I think we can aim for that, and also try to make existing buildings kill fewer birds. I installed home-made Acopian birdsavers in the house I’m living in, which had had fatal collisions, and they seem to be working. (I hadn’t meant to reply directly to you before, by the way, just to the thread).
Did I miss something? I thought we were discussing a window strike in one of the places where humans already live the most densely?
This is tough, though. Density is a nice concept, but actually living in a dense tower with lots of other people is uncomfortable, noisy, and depressing, in my experience. I never, EVER want to live that way again.
i’m not suggesting that everyone live in a tower (especially since towers often aren’t the most efficient form of housing anyway), and i’m not saying that some small portion of people shouldn’t have the option to live on their own private islands. the problem is when people try to live and build cities in a way that everyone lives far from each other. the solution isn’t to force everyone to live in some version of Kowloon Walled City, but i don’t think it’s unreasonable to have people ask whether they would trade a big backyard for a nice neighborhood park within walking distance, whether they could suffer some of the bustle of the city in exchange for a shorter trip out of the city to find peace among the birds and the trees, etc.
Interesting you mention an Asian city. It made me think of Singapore – with “satellite” clusters of density surrounded by less dense areas. Of course, Singapore’s public transportation is part of what allows for this.
This is basically the situation in which I lived, and it was horrible for me. There was a “park” for us in the apartment, but it was basically an equivalent of a dog park for humans - a busy square of lawn with 3 trees on the edge. It still took over an hour to drive to the mountains. I respect anyone who is happy living like that, but I never felt comfortable or at ease. The feeling of never having any privacy while outdoors was unbearable.
I’ve seen this done better in the UK, though, where there are rowhouses with solid construction, a small, fenced yard for each person, and nice, large parks nearby. I just can’t imagine it being done in the US in a way that isn’t dehumanizing.