Bird-Glass Collision Project
Sponsored by
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It was an article online that first grabbed my attention. Up to one billion birds killed every year, in collision with glass, on the North American continent alone.
This represents an annual bird population decrease of 11-31 per cent. Some species are more susceptible (due to various factors) and are known as super-colliders.
A study by Arnold and Zink suggests that nocturnal-migrants, long-distant migrants and some phylogenic groups (common ancestry) are more susceptible to building collisions.
The Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) has recorded more than 66k collisions over 166 species.
Toronto sits on one of the biggest migratory corridors on the planet (Klem). Legislation has been passed there and in California and Minnesota requiring buildings to be more bird -friendly and many more are in process. Studies are in progress worldwide to examine the various causes and possible solutions to the problem.
Through this project I aim to encourage debate and increase public awareness of the phenomenon in the hope that legislators, architects and planners will devise further solutions to prevent the carnage.
If you have any experience of a bird-strike on your window and/or photographs, recordings I would greatly appreciate your help with my work.
These paintings are inspired by actual images of powder down, the dust left on windows after a bird strike.
