Birds are disappearing across North America.

New Haven is fortunate to be located in the heart of the Atlantic Flyway, a major bird migration route that runs along the eastern seaboard. Hundreds of bird species make our city their permanent or temporary home. In addition to bringing joy, song, and inspiration to New Haven residents of all ages, birds provide the city with a multitude of critical services. They control populations of insects and rodents that spread human disease, scavenge carrion, pollinate plants, disperse seeds, regenerate forests, prevent erosion, move nutrients, provide important environmental data, and stimulate the economy. But these birds are now in trouble.

Since 1970, more than one in four birds in the United States and Canada have vanished, according to a landmark study published in 2019. Much of that staggering decline is among common New Haven species, such as robins, sparrows, swifts, doves, thrushes, and wrens.

For billions of birds, windows are invisible killers. We have the power to save them.

Building collisions are among the leading drivers of this alarming loss. Scientists estimate that between 365 million and 988 million birds are killed by flying into windows every year in the United States. That number may represent as much as 2 to 9 percent of the entire North American bird population.

Despite the problem’s staggering scale, bird-building collisions receive surprisingly little public attention. The staggering severity of this problem is not yet widely recognized or acted upon by the public, by policymakers, or by large institutions. Across Connecticut and across the country, new buildings with designs that imperil birds continue to be approved for construction.

Bird-window collisions are preventable. There are effective, affordable, and attractive solutions.

The good news is that these bird deaths are unnecessary and preventable. Bird mortality due to glass collisions can be significantly reduced by incorporating bird-friendly building materials and design. In recent decades, architects, advocates, scientists, and businesspeople have identified, developed, and tested a range of attractive design strategies and materials that can reduce bird strikes at both new and retrofitted buildings. Many of these solutions are easy to install and inexpensive. But these solutions will only work to save birds if they’re widely adopted.

The Yale Bird-Friendly Building Initiative aims to accelerate the adoption of bird-friendly design.

With the support of a seed grant from Yale University Planetary Solutions Project, the Yale Bird-Friendly Building Initiative launched in spring 2022 with the aim of accelerating the adoption of bird-friendly design on Yale’s campus and beyond. To this end, we are conducting two initial research projects.

Our first project is focused on monitoring bird-window collisions on campus and developing a data-driven action plan to significantly reduce bird-window collisions at Yale from existing and future buildings. Our second project, conducted in partnership with the American Bird Conservancy’s Glass Collisions Program, is focused on researching the effectiveness of existing public policies that aim to reduce bird-window collisions and developing new public policy proposals at the city, state, and national levels to accelerate the adoption and development of bird-friendly building technologies, design, and materials. Read more about our work here.