Local bird densities and habitats are poor predictors of bird collision with glass bus shelters

Zyśk-Gorczyńska, Ewa; Sztwiertnia, Hanna; Pietkiewicz, Małgorzata; Kolanek, Aleksandra; Bojarska, Katarzyna; Żmihorski, Michał

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104285

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…These distinctions can result in varying importance of factors influencing collision rates. For example, Zyśk-Gorczyńska et al ( 2022 ) found that bird abundance, species composition, and land-use types surrounding glass-walled bus shelters were poor predictors of collisions, emphasizing the differences between bus shelter and buildings. Additionally, there is generally little or no nighttime lighting emitted from bus shelters, which may reduce the importance of this factor compared at buildings (Barton et al 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field-testing effectiveness of window markers in reducing bird-window collisions

et al. 2022

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Bird-window collisions are a major source of human-caused mortality for which there are multiple mitigation and prevention options available. Despite growing availability of products designed to reduce collisions (e.g., glass with etched patterns or markers and films adhered over existing glass), few replicated field tests have been conducted to assess their effectiveness after installation on glass. We conducted a field study to evaluate the effectiveness of a commercially marketed product (Feather Friendly ® markers) in reducing bird-window collisions at glass-walled bus shelters in Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. This study included a before-after control-impact (BACI) analysis comparing numbers of collisions at 18 bus shelters in both pre-treatment (2016) and post-treatment (2020) periods, and an analysis comparing 18 treated and 18 untreated shelters during 2020. For the BACI analysis, collisions were significantly reduced between 2016 and 2020 at shelters treated with the Feather Friendly ® markers even though collisions increased at shelters that remained untreated. For the 2020 analysis, there were significantly fewer collisions at treated than untreated shelters. Relative to a baseline study in 2016, we estimated that treating half of Stillwater’s bus shelters resulted in a 64% reduction in total annual bird collisions. Together, these analyses provide a rigorous field test of the effectiveness of this treatment option in reducing bird-window collisions. Our research provides a model for similar studies at both bus shelters and buildings to evaluate and compare products designed to reduce bird-window collisions, and therefore, contribute to reducing this major mortality source affecting bird populations. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11252-022-01304-w.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field-testing effectiveness of window markers in reducing bird-window collisions

et al. 2022

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“…Typically of field studies, we were not able to fully control conditions and there may have been more bird strikes on the glass panels of both control and film-covered shelters than recorded by us. First, many dirt smudges were hard to clearly classify as traces of bird collisions (Zyśk-Gorczyńska et al 2020, 2021a) and all these non-obvious traces were ignored. Thus, some of the indirect evidence of bird collisions may have been ignored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2017 and 2018, we monitored 85 glass bus shelters in the Lower Silesia Province (in South-West Poland) as a part of a larger study focused on bird-glass collisions (Zyśk-Gorczyńska et al 2020, 2021a. Among these 85 locations, we selected eight glass bus shelters for which we found a particularly high number of bird collisions in 2017 and 2018.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, our previous study at these shelters indicated that bird abundances recorded were poor predictors of bird-glass collisions. Similarly, habitat composition near bus shelters hardly predicted variation in birdglass collision risk (see Zyśk-Gorczyńska et al 2021a).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, this study goes further than Swaddle et al (2020) by testing the product's effectiveness in a real-world setting with free-living birds and random mix of species. Here, we used our former bird-glass collision data from glass bus shelters (Zyśk-Gorczyńska et al 2020, 2021a) located in Poland, and experimentally placed the UV film on some of them. This allowed us to separate random temporal variation in collision risk from the treatment effect in before-after control-impact study design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ultraviolet film reduces bird–glass collision risk

Zyśk-Gorczyńska¹,

Żmihorski

2022

Ornis Fenn

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It is estimated that millions of birds globally die due to collisions with glass surfaces. In order to reduce this mortality, it is essential to provide an objective assessment of the effectiveness of bird-friendly preventive methods. Several types of opaque films and stickers are available nowadays and can be highly effective in protecting birds from fatal collisions. However, by being visible to the human eye, they can affect the users’ quality of view from within protected spaces. Products that take advantage of the birds' ability to see ultraviolet light seem to offset these impediments. This study determines if UV-reflective BirdShades film prevents birds from collisions with glass in natural environmental conditions. We monitored eight glass bus stops, where we had previously recorded high numbers of birds collisions. On four of them, we applied UV film, and the other four bus stops were used as control. A generalized additive mixed model showed a significant interaction between time (before vs. after) and film UV treatment (control vs. treated). Before the treatment, the number of collisions tended to be higher at treated bus shelters than control. However, this significantly changed after the treatment, suggesting that UV film reduces bird glass collision rate over 5-fold. Our study is the first worldwide that tested UV film on glass shelters and supports a conclusion that the UV film efficiently reduces the risk of bird collision.

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Local bird densities and habitats are poor predictors of bird collision with glass bus shelters

Cited by 2 publications

References 29 publications

Field-testing effectiveness of window markers in reducing bird-window collisions

Field-testing effectiveness of window markers in reducing bird-window collisions

Ultraviolet film reduces bird–glass collision risk

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