With bird migrations peaking this month, the campus is redoubling efforts to prevent window collisions.
World Migratory Bird Day, Oct. 14, falls almost exactly at the mid-point of Campus Sustainability Month, making it the perfect time to remind the UWindsor community about efforts to create a bird-friendly haven, says sustainability officer Nadia Harduar.
“We launched a citizen science project in the spring to help us identify windows prone to causing bird collisions and so far, we have received many reports from campus staff, faculty, and students,” she says.
“Please help us to continue our efforts to ensure bird-friendly windows by being our eyes on the ground to help prioritize high-risk areas which may need decals to make glass more visible so birds do not fly into it and injure themselves.”
To report a collision, fill out this form and submit a photo of the bird and the surrounding area.
The form was developed with the assistance of Alysha Riquier, a graduate student of integrated biology, who notes that fall migration is reaching its peak.
“It’s a great time to show people how diverse our campus is in terms of bird species, even though we aren’t in the most natural area,” Riquier says. “Many passerines use the main campus green areas as part of their migration route.”
Suzanne Friemann, executive director of the Pelee Island Bird Observatory, shares the excitement about the work to date.
“We are thrilled that the University of Windsor has starting a campus-wide initiative to engage students, staff, and faculty to make the University area a bird-safe campus,” she says. “Windsor can only be truly bird friendly when multiple stakeholders and partners initiate concrete actions to save our urban and migratory birds and the University of Windsor is off to a great start.”