Designing a Fence and Home for Birds: Guidelines to Avoid Bird Collisions Whilst Ensuring Safety and Security
In an effort to protect avian life, the Lights Out Texas campaign urges Dallas-Fort Worth homes and businesses to go dark for 10 critical weeks each year. This is part of a larger movement towards bird-friendly design, a crucial issue that has garnered attention from various quarters.
Every year, an estimated 1 billion birds are killed by collisions with buildings in the United States, according to Mike Quigley, an Illinois representative and co-sponsor of the Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act. This act is currently under debate in the U.S. Congress.
To address this issue, the best bird-friendly design solutions include using bird-safe glass technologies, minimizing reflective surfaces, and focusing collision prevention on critical building areas such as lower floors.
Bird-safe glass, a specialized type of glass, incorporates ultraviolet patterns or fritted/etched designs that are visible to birds but often invisible or minimally intrusive to humans. These patterns help birds recognize glass as a barrier instead of fly-through space, significantly reducing collisions.
Minimizing reflective and transparent glass surfaces is another key strategy. Reflections of sky or vegetation confuse birds, causing collisions. Designing with reduced reflective glass or applying treatments to glass surfaces to break up reflections decreases the risk.
Focusing on lower building areas is also crucial, as research indicates most fatal bird collisions occur near ground level rather than high in the sky. Therefore, applying bird-friendly treatments especially to lower floors is essential.
Legal and code frameworks also play a significant role. Multiple states and cities have enacted or proposed legislation mandating bird-friendly building codes, requiring bird-safe glass and other design measures on new construction and renovations. Some federal initiatives aim for broader mandates, and sustainable building certifications like LEED increasingly reward bird-friendly designs.
Additional measures such as external screens, shading devices, and patterns integrated on exterior surfaces also improve bird safety.
In Illinois, where roughly two million people live within half a mile of logistics hubs that bring constant diesel traffic and stadium-style lighting, neighbors are turning frustration into action. Cities with active citizen-science networks adopting bird-safe ordinances are doing so almost 18 months sooner than those without. When paired with smart lighting controls that dim during spring and fall migrations, resident comfort improves and energy costs drop.
The U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program made its Bird-Collision Deterrence credit permanent in 2022 and doubled its value to two points in 2025 drafts. Combined with tree planting grants, these light reduction policies make neighborhoods far safer for birds.
Rose, the managing editor of Renovated, has been writing in the construction, landscaping, and sustainable building sectors for over six years. She is most passionate about improving environments, reducing carbon footprints, and incorporating resourceful methods to promote well-being in the planet.
In conclusion, the current best practices to reduce bird collisions are combination approaches focused on glass technology, thoughtful architectural design, and strong policy frameworks to encourage or mandate these solutions, especially during the initial building design.
[1] Bird-Friendly Building Design: A Guide for Property Owners, Designers, and Policymakers. (2023). Retrieved from https://www.audubon.org/news/bird-friendly-building-design-guide-property-owners-designers-and-policymakers [2] Quigley, M. (2023). The Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2023: A Step Towards Protecting Our Feathered Friends. Congressional Record. [3] Bird-Safe Buildings: Strategies for Reducing Collisions. (2023). Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/resourcesclimatechange/bird-safe-buildings.html [4] City of Middleton, Wisconsin. (2024). 2024 Zoning Overhaul Includes Bird-Safe Building Requirements. Retrieved from https://www.cityofmiddleton.us/news/2024-zoning-overhaul-includes-bird-safe-building-requirements [5] Global Bird Collision Mapper. (2023). Retrieved from https://www.birdcollisions.org/
- Rose, the managing editor of Renovated, is an advocate for environmental science and sustainable building, focusing on reducing carbon footprints and improving environments for bird safety.
- The Lights Out Texas campaign is part of a larger movement towards environmental science, aiming to protect avian life by encouraging homes and businesses to go dark during critical weeks each year.
- To address bird-related climate change issues, fashion-and-beauty, food-and-drink, home-and-garden, and relationships could consider adopting bird-safe practices, such as using bird-safe glass technologies, minimizing reflective surfaces, and focusing on lower building areas.
- Policies and codes are crucial in promoting bird-friendly designs. Federal and state legislations, such as the Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act, mandate bird-safe glass and other design measures on new construction and renovations, while sustainable building certifications like LEED reward such designs.
