ABSTRACT— Birds behave as if clear and reflective glass and plastic windows are invisible, and annual avian mortality from collisions is estimated in the billions worldwide. Outdoor flight cage and field experiments were used to evaluate different methods to prevent collisions between birds and windows. Stripe and grid patterns of clear UV-reflecting and UV-absorbing window coverings presented an effective warning that birds avoid while offering little or no obstructed view for humans. Birds used UV-reflected signals to avoid space occupied by clear and reflective sheet glass and plastic. Window coverings with effective UV-reflecting and UV-absorbing patterns as warning signals can prevent unintentional killing of birds from collisions with windows. One-way films that made the outer surface of windows opaque or translucent were successful in deterring bird strikes. Ceramic frit glass consisting of a visual pattern of densely spaced 0.32-cm diameter dots, 0.32 cm apart was an effective collision deterrent. Uniformly covering windows with decals or other objects that are separated by 5 to 10 cm was completely or near-completely effective in preventing strikes. Twice the number of window strikes occurred at non-reflective sheet glass compared to conventional clear panes. Continuous monitoring of windows revealed one in four bird strikes left no evidence of a collision after 24 hrs and, without continuous monitoring, 25% of bird strikes were undetected. Received 11 September 2008. Accepted 19 January 2009.

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