Who
Daniel Klem Jr. is a United States ornithologist, known for his pioneering research into the mortality of birds due to glass windows.
Daniel Klem, Jr., Ph.D., D.Sc. is a Sarkis Acopian Professor of Ornithology and Conservation Biology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Klem obtained his B.Sc. at Wilkes University and his M.Sc. at Hofstra University. He served in the US military during the Vietnam War, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He subsequently obtained his doctorate from Southern Illinois University.
Over the past 44 years and continuing, he has dedicated his life to studying, writing, and teaching about the threat that sheet glass and plastic pose to birds. No other scientist has comprehensively studied and published research results documenting and preventing the lethal threat that human structures pose to birds. In his 1990 papers “Bird injuries, cause of death, and recuperation from collisions with windows” and “Collisions between birds and windows: mortality and prevention”, he calculated that between 100 million and 1 billion birds are killed, annually, in the United States alone, by flying into windows.
His research has influenced the design of buildings, not least the Niagara Falls State Park Observation Tower, on which he was a design consultant. He holds several US patents relating to windows design. He is motivated by available and growing evidence that bird-building collisions are an important wildlife conservation, building industry, and animal welfare issue for birds and people worldwide.
Focus on Quality
New technologies and policies are still being developed today to ensure that bird safe windows become a part of our future for good. Working with quality companies that place sustainable as a top priority is key to finding a glass distributing partner.
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Honors
- Graduate School: Teaching Assistantships (Hofstra University), Teaching Assistantships (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale)
- Special Doctoral Fellowship (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale)
- Research Fellowship (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale)
- Elective Member of American Ornithologists’ Union Darbaker Prize (Award for Best Paper Using Microscopic Techniques) from Pennsylvania Academy of Science
- Lindback Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence
from Muhlenberg College - Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) Service Award
- Hoffman Research Fellowship (1993-94)
- Doctor of Science (D.Sc.,Wilkes University 2000)
- Warden’s Award from Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association (2000)
- Detroit Audubon Society Conservation Leadership Award (2007)
- Pennsylvania Ornithological Society Conservation Award (2008)
- Research Grants from: American University of Armenia (Affiliate of University of California)
- CPFilms, Inc., Huge’ Company, Inc., Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association, Muhlenberg College, Pittsburgh Plate
- Glass Foundation, The Wetlands Institute, and U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service
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Professional Society Membership
- Animal Behavior Society
- American Birding Association
- American Ornithologists’ Union
- Association of Field Ornithologists
- Birdlife International
- Colonial Waterbirds Society
- Cape May Bird Observatory
- Cooper Ornithological Society
- Eastern Bird-Banding Association
- Ecological Society of America
- Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association
- Hawk Migration Association of North America
- National Audubon Society
- Northeastern Bird-Banding Association
- Ornithological Council (Board of Trustees, 2006 – present),
Pennsylvania Academy of Science - Pennsylvania Biological Survey
- Pennsylvania Society of Ornithology
- National Institute for Urban Wildlife
- Raptor Research Foundation
- Sigma Xi; Society for Conservation Biology
- The Institute for Bird Populations
- The Wetlands Institute
- The Wildlife Society
- Wilson Ornithological Society (Council Member, 2005 –2009).