Bird-window collisions are preventable.

Treat your windows with DIY and commercial solutions.

DIY Solutions

Preventing bird-window collisions can be easy and cheap! The important thing is to cover the entire window and to treat the outside surface. Treatments applied to the inside surface will not be visible to birds and will not work to reduce collisions. Do not leave any empty space larger than about five square centimetres, so that birds are not tempted to try to fly through an "opening" that they perceive is large enough for them to fit through.

A virtually free solution is to take a bar of soap and use it to draw all over the outside surface of the glass (birds are not likely to see a pattern applied from the inside). The example shown here channels Bart Simpson, but the creative possibilities are truly endless!

Photo on the right by Eileen McConnell

These library windows were painted on by students at the University of Toronto in Canada as part of an effort to make their campus safer for birds. The team used oil-based paint markers, which may be washed off with a vinegar solution. Notice that the entire surface of the glass is covered, and that evenly spaced dots fill up space that would otherwise be blank. A commonly available brand of paint marker is the Posca brand.
For a simpler but equally effective design to use with paint markers, watch this video.

Another simple, homemade solution for preventing collisions is to hang a string curtain from the top of a window. These string curtains are known as Acopian bird savers. Instructions for making them may be found here and in the video at left. The website maintains a list of places around the world where Acopian bird savers have been installed. What about putting Singapore on the map? 😉🇸🇬

This photo, taken at a Toronto subway station, shows the body of a white-throated sparrow at the base of a window that has been treated with a hawk silhouette decal. These decals are commonly used in attempts to deter bird collisions, but they do not work well. The reason is that each decal covers only a small portion of the glass surface, and the decals are usually spaced too far apart to be an effective visual signal. Photo by Ann Sanderson

COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS

A number of commercial products have been developed that effectively reduce or prevent bird collisions. The ones recommended below have been scientifically proven to be highly effective, reducing collisions by more than 90%. They are endorsed by major avian conservation organizations such as the American Bird Conservancy, Audubon Society and FLAP Canada. Some products even have added UV-protective or security-enhancing features, in addition to their bird-friendly properties. They ship to Singapore.

Note: Several products have been developed that rely on birds' ability to see UV light. The idea is that since humans cannot see UV light, such treatments will be invisible to people but not birds. The scientific proof that such products prevent bird strikes is not as robust as for the visible window films featured here. Moreover, certain bird species such as doves (which are rather prone to collisions) are not able to see UV light. UV light is present only at very low levels in the early morning, when many bird-window collisions occur, so UV window treatments may not be equally effective throughout the day. Moreover, the currently available UV bird-deterrent products are much more expensive than those featured here.

Feather Friendly is a Canadian company that has developed and sold collision-deterrent products since 2006. Their window treatments range from small-scale residential options to huge commercial applications. Feather Friendly was selected to retrofit McCormick Place in Chicago, after that convention centre was the site of a shocking mass mortality event in October 2023, in which over a thousand birds were killed in a single day. Since installing Feather Friendly, bird collisions at McCormick Place have been reduced by 95%! In Asia, Feather Friendly has worked with the South Korean government to treat glass barriers along that country's highways.

Photo courtesy of CollidEscape

CollidEscape is a US company with a thirty-year history selling a wide range of customizable bird-safe window treatments, for both small- and large-scale applications. The company has sold its products all over East and Southeast Asia, recently completing installations in Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea and China. In Singapore, CollidEscape has been installed at the Mandai Rainforest Resort to prevent bird collisions.

OTHER WAYS TO RETROFIT WINDOWS

External blinds are a great way to reduce both heat gain and bird-window collisions. When placed on the outside of a window, blinds shade the building's interior much more efficiently than when placed inside. The problem of reflectivity is eliminated, making the window safe for birds.

Installing security grilles on the outside of windows is a good way to protect humans and birds alike.

These apartments face onto a green space and have been the site of several bird-window collisions. The apartment on the left has installed vertical (relatively visible) invisible grilles, which likely act to deter birds from flying into the glass. Moreover, the placement of potted plants obscures the reflective glass. The apartment on the right makes use of owl-shaped mobiles with scare-tape streamers that blow in the near-constant breeze. These homemade solutions may not follow recommendations for the best practices, but they certainly help to reduce bird-window strikes.

Bird-safe windows are beautiful

An oft-heard objection to bird-saving window applications is that they "block the view" or are ugly. Yet people who have these films installed soon realize that the brain quickly adjusts, such that, within a few days or even hours, the dots are hardly perceptible anymore. Far from diminishing a building's aesthetic appeal, bird-safe treatments can be an attractive feature. In fact, once one understands the scale of suffering and death that untreated windows cause worldwide, the vast expanses of reflective windows and transparent railings that exist in our cities actually become unpleasant to look at. Life-preserving windows, on the other hand, are beautiful!

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