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The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

theguardian.com

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Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#81

Post by gus_massa »

p1mrx wrote: post #64
gus_massa wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years ago, my wife was taking photos of spectral lines of a mercury lamp with our normal camera and she noticed an additional line in the photo. It was an UV line that was visible by the camera but not by the eye. [IIRC a Cannon camera, not very expensive or fancy. It was very good taking photos of dark rooms during birthdays.] Edit: Fixed typo IV -> UV

> It was an IV line that was visible by the camera but not by the eye. If you can't see infraviolet, consider taking a colorblind test.

Thanks. I fixed the typo.

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#82

Post by beebeepka »

zw123456 wrote: post #62

I had this happen at my place a number of times, my house is up on a hill with large windows facing the view. I didn't want to put stickers or other things that would detract from the view. A neighbor mentioned that they put up a couple of decorative hanging plants off to the side of the windows, didn't have to be right in front which would block the view. I opted for a couple of hanging outdoor art pieces (I have a…

Were there any incidents before your measures? I may face a similar problem and it concerns me because I really don't want to harm anyone, including birds and insects.

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#83

Post by ornornor »

mactavish88 wrote: post #53
nicolaslem wrote: post #4

I highly encourage anyone who had birds crash on their windows to install white dot stickers. I installed some last spring on my windows and not a single bird crashed on them since. At first they look a bit odd, but after a week they were almost invisible, turns out the brain is really good at hiding things we don't care to see. They are a bit of a pain to install but it is well worth the effort.

We find that, while this deters birds, it seems to attract bees. They fly and land on many individual dots before eventually flying away. Has anyone else experienced this?

My partner has a very white bicycle helmet and bugs are often flying into it for the same reason I think. Mines darker and it almost never happens other than the occasional and expected collision.

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#84

Post by ornornor »

xwdv wrote: post #29
nicolaslem wrote: post #4

I highly encourage anyone who had birds crash on their windows to install white dot stickers. I installed some last spring on my windows and not a single bird crashed on them since. At first they look a bit odd, but after a week they were almost invisible, turns out the brain is really good at hiding things we don't care to see. They are a bit of a pain to install but it is well worth the effort.

I don’t like stickers on my windows, ruins the aesthetic. Instead we should have some kind of spray that transmits a wavelength of light only birds could see but is invisible to humans.

You can buy a UV pen and draw patterns on the windows. You won’t see them but birds will.

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#85

Post by hinkley »

sandworm101 wrote: post #39

I worked in a building that attempted to address this. The three-story glass lobby had its glass wall raked outwards by 30*. If you approached the glass from inside then your feet would contact it before your face, which really helped at night when outside was brighter than the interior. And birds on the outside would see a reflection of the ground rather than transparent glass. All seemed good. Until a convention of…

Maybe 30° is too aggressive. 10-15 probably suffices and is still cane compatible. Plus no assholes trying to climb the glass on the inside.

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#86

Post by konstantinua00 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #39

I worked in a building that attempted to address this. The three-story glass lobby had its glass wall raked outwards by 30*. If you approached the glass from inside then your feet would contact it before your face, which really helped at night when outside was brighter than the interior. And birds on the outside would see a reflection of the ground rather than transparent glass. All seemed good. Until a convention of…

huh, if anything, I wouldn't have imagined birds smacking into windows on first floor...

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#87

Post by KolmogorovComp »

sandworm101 wrote: post #39

I worked in a building that attempted to address this. The three-story glass lobby had its glass wall raked outwards by 30*. If you approached the glass from inside then your feet would contact it before your face, which really helped at night when outside was brighter than the interior. And birds on the outside would see a reflection of the ground rather than transparent glass. All seemed good. Until a convention of…

The Toronto Best Practice for Bird-Friendly building design [0] states that “due to the lack of scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness, angled glass is no longer an acceptable way of compliance [for bird safety]”.

[0] https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/8d1c-Bird-... Page 30.

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#88

Post by beebeepka »

taway1237 wrote: post #40
NoblePublius wrote: post #14

[flagged]

There's no shortage of people, and yet we frown upon unnecessary deaths. Your response sounds quite callous.

I checked this person's history. Unless you always see the good in people, no matter what, you will not be surprised

Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds

#90

Post by yoyopa »

sandworm101 wrote: post #39

I worked in a building that attempted to address this. The three-story glass lobby had its glass wall raked outwards by 30*. If you approached the glass from inside then your feet would contact it before your face, which really helped at night when outside was brighter than the interior. And birds on the outside would see a reflection of the ground rather than transparent glass. All seemed good. Until a convention of…

there's supposed to be a cane detection rail if the overhead surface is less than 7 feet
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