Posted on December 5, 2023
Post categories: Uncategorized
The students combed the perimeter of the Nanoengineering & Sciences Building on a recent fall morning, as a pair of volunteers does every morning, looking for signs that a bird has met its end.
On this day, the students found only feathers – not remains – a sign that crows may have already scavenged the carcass.
With its facade of windows, NanoES is one of the buildings along a route – the route itself one of three campus loops – that volunteers trek as part of Bird Friendly Campus, a project led by College of Built Environments Ph.D. researcher Judy Bowes. The goals: Count the number of bird-building collisions on campus, provide recommendations about bird-safe design to UW architects, and educate the community about the harm that transparent and reflective glass presents to wildlife.
“We can find a balance in design that benefits humans and birds,” said Bowes, who discovered a love for birds while growing up in Pennsylvania. “Birds cannot detect glass. This is a design problem, not a bird problem. We can use less invasive designs and protect wildlife in ways that benefit all of us.”