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Trends in bird collisions at a teaching building (Buchanan) at UBC Vancouver

University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

Bird collisions on buildings are a major driver of avian mortality in north America. As a result of large glass surfaces used in building construction, and the proliferation of urban green spaces that (a) attract birds for food and shelter and (b) reflect off the glass, birds are unable to distinguish glass facades and collide with them. The campus of the University of British Columbia has been the site for multiple studies investigating trends in collisions owing to its mosaic of large glass buildings and green spaces. For four years, students in partnership with biologists monitored collisions occurring at the Buchanan complex, a teaching facility. Monitoring thrice a week, students recorded any collisions after being trained. All results were processed in R for visualization. Since 2021, collision frequencies have consistently dropped (-79.5% by 2024, from 49 to 10 collisions), though so has searcher effort. Collision frequencies across the four years have been localized to specific blocks and facades. Two facades have been retrofitted with Feather Friendly markers in 2022 and 2023, with noticeable declines in collisions (no statistical test conducted). As part of the university’s long-term vision to integrate natural systems and promote biodiversity on campus, addressing this issue is urgent. Buildings on campus are not required by the university’s building code to be retrofitted, leaving the decision to individual building management. As a proven technique, bird-friendly retrofits like Feather Friendly Markers and glass artwork, both for which have been employed on UBC’s campus, are strongly recommended, especially as results show that retrofits only need to target certain “problem” facades that consistently record collisions. It is also strongly recommended to incorporate citizen science such as student monitoring programs to help keep an up-to-date record of collision statistics across multiple campus buildings. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Report

eng

2024-07-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88795

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/