As our summer advances, young birds are fledging from nests…but only the lucky ones, whose parents survived their migration. Sadly, many adult birds met their death. Though windows can help connect us humans with the outdoors, they are a dangerous obstacle for birds. The Forests and Wildlife Stewards are working to change that risk for one of Minnesota’s deadliest buildings.
The Twin Cities are on a key avian migratory route, the Mississippi Flyway, but the glass walls of US Bank Stadium are lethal for birds. The Forests and Wildlife Stewards have worked with the bird advocate group, Citizens for a Bird-Safe Stadium, to obtain $1.5 million in legislative funding via Senate File 451 for window modifications to the four areas of the stadium that were found most likely to be struck, as determined by the 2019 US Bank Stadium Bird Collision Study. Unfortunately, the legislation did not advance this session.
These modifications consist of white dots applied to the outside of the glass; nearly invisible inside, but for the birds, who see much better than we in UV, the barrier becomes visible. This treatment was applied to the Lakeside Center at Chicago’s McCormick Place, where almost a thousand dead birds were found on just one day in 2023. After the window modifications last summer, monitors noted a 95% reduction in bird death for the fall migration, compared with the two previous fall migrations.