With the release of architectural guidelines designed to keep birds from crashing into windows, Maine has become one of four states nationwide to take action on the problem, which kills more than a billion U.S. birds each year.
Released Tuesday by the state’s Bureau of General Services, the voluntary guidelines incorporate bird-safe principles in publicly-funded buildings, including schools.
The result of a law passed in 2023, the guidelines were developed with Maine Audubon, the University of Southern Maine, Simons Architects and other architects, builders and issue experts.
Early planning
Glass windows trick birds by either reflecting sky and habitat or by appearing invisible. Volunteers have spent more than five years monitoring for bird strikes statewide, and have received hundreds of reports, according to a news release.
The guidelines give architects and builders bird-safe strategies such s tips on architectural features to avoid, which kinds of windows are safer than other and how to incorporate bird-safe principles early on in the planning process.
“The silver lining to the window collision problem is that it is easily within our ability to fix,” said Nick Lund, advocacy and outreach manager for Maine Audubon and co-founder of BirdSafe Maine, a partnership to understand and address window collisions. “There are lots of strategies and products in the market to ensure that buildings can be built to protect birds without costing more.”
Bird-safe decals
More Maine companies and residences are rolling out solutions to deter birds from flying into their windows.
L.L.Bean installed thousands of square feet of bird-safe decals at its headquarters in Freeport. In the Old Port, MEMIC installed window decals and was able to reduce strikes by more than 80%.
BirdSafe Maine worked with Saddleback to design removable screens for its mid-mountain lodge, the Nest. At Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, employees initiated an effort to treat glass windows.
The windows at the Crewe Center for the Arts, at the University of Southern Maine’s campus in Portland, feature a pattern of acid-etched dots. The markings make the glass visible to birds but are also transparent enough to allow sunshine into the building, according to a separate news release.
