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Investigating Bird-Building Collisions at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver Campus Yatsuda, Satori

Abstract

Human-wildlife conflict is an inevitable issue that can be observed in almost every sector of living in the Anthropocene. Bird-building collisions, which cause the deaths of 25 million birds annually in Canada, are a prime example (Machtans et al., 2013). These collisions occur due to avian vision not perceiving glass as a direct barrier. Specifically, the fact that windows are highly reflective, and are often in close proximity to tall vegetation and nearby attractants such as bird feeders cause many birds with high flight speeds to be unable to avoid impact in time. This study investigated the number of collisions occurring at the Buchanan Blocks (A-E) on the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver Campus in an 8-week study, as well as looked at how retrofitting with the use of FeatherFriendlyⓇ markers affected these findings. An 80% decrease in collision evidence was found between 2021 and 2024, with two facades being retrofitted during 2022 and 2023, suggesting that the use of these stickers should be continued at Buchanan, specifically as a cost-effective solution for existing windows. Finally, education is a crucial aspect of management that leads to continued support towards human-wildlife coexistence. 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.”

Item Metadata

Title
Investigating Bird-Building Collisions at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver Campus
Creator
Yatsuda, Satori
Contributor
University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning
Date Issued
2024-04-12
Description
Human-wildlife conflict is an inevitable issue that can be observed in almost every sector of living in the Anthropocene. Bird-building collisions, which cause the deaths of 25 million birds annually in Canada, are a prime example (Machtans et al., 2013). These collisions occur due to avian vision not perceiving glass as a direct barrier. Specifically, the fact that windows are highly reflective, and are often in close proximity to tall vegetation and nearby attractants such as bird feeders cause many birds with high flight speeds to be unable to avoid impact in time. This study investigated the number of collisions occurring at the Buchanan Blocks (A-E) on the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver Campus in an 8-week study, as well as looked at how retrofitting with the use of FeatherFriendlyⓇ markers affected these findings. An 80% decrease in collision evidence was found between 2021 and 2024, with two facades being retrofitted during 2022 and 2023, suggesting that the use of these stickers should be continued at Buchanan, specifically as a cost-effective solution for existing windows. Finally, education is a crucial aspect of management that leads to continued support towards human-wildlife coexistence. 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.”
Subject
Biodiversity; Buildings
Genre
Report
Type
Text
Language
eng
Series
UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report; University of British Columbia. APBI 490; University of British Columbia. CONS 495
Date Available
2024-07-30
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0444938
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88811
Affiliation
Land and Food Systems, Faculty of; Forestry, Faculty of
Peer Review Status
Unreviewed
Scholarly Level
Undergraduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International