Although birds have several "enemies" to avoid, such as predators or the blades of windmills, surprisingly, a large majority suffer mishaps, blows (which can endanger their lives), when colliding with the transparent glass and window panes. It is estimated that, in the United States, between 100 and 1 billion birds die each year from this cause. In this Green Ecologist article, we address the question of Why do birds crash into windowpanes?
Birds crashing into windows: facts and figures
In the United Kingdom, the British Trust for Ornithology estimated that some 100 million impacts, of which a third are fatal. They seem somewhat exaggerated figures and some scientists doubt them. But even if those accidents are far fewer, they are still a problem.
The estimate in the US study, which appeared in a 1990 article by biologist Daniel Klem, is conjecture, a projection from a few reliable data. Klem took into account the number of windows in the country's buildings and made an estimate based on the fact that between one and ten birds are killed by colliding with the windows. From that calculation comes the aforementioned figure: between 97.6 million and 975.6 million accidents.
But there are many variables: areas where birds do not live, or where they do not pass when they migrate, the size of the windows, the size of the buildings themselves, you might even think that, if the windows are not very clean, there will be more possibilities of that the birds, in their flight, see them and do not collide with them.
Another big problem for birds: cats
However, there are a lot of birds that collide with the window panes and it is a matter that must be taken into account to conserve the population of some species. In other words, beyond the discussion (or the calculation) of how many birds have this type of accident each year, it would be necessary to promote measures so that accidents do not occurregardless of whether the lives of one, two, five or millions of birds are saved.
There are also other studies that estimate the death of birds by cats: a recent report ensures that cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds in America every year.
If you want to read more articles similar to Why do birds crash into window panes, we recommend that you enter our category of Animal Curiosities.
