Toronto has had bird-friendly design guidelines since 2007. Surprised Chicago still hasn’t implemented a solution. https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/...
This is SUCH an awesome and wonderful document. Thanks for sharing!
The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
121–130 of 131 posts
Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#122I looked out the window yesterday for a few minutes. I think I heard a chirp faraway among the natural traffic stream. The silent spring is coming.
Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#123Reminds me of the mass insects dying from car windshields, but that is a much tougher issue to tackle than a stationary building
Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I get a lot of birds in my yard and decorated the windows with translucent UV stickers. Now every sunset I get to see a stained glass dragon on my wood floors. Highly recommend.
Do you have a link to the sticker? I'm interested!
Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#125Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#126Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both Chicago and Illinois have bird friendly building ordinances but the building in question was built in 1960 long before they existed. It’s also massive so mitigations will take a long time to be applied.
> It’s also massive so mitigations will take a long time to be applied. Surely it cannot be too hard to slap 2 or 3 anti-collision decals on every window from the outside?
[deleted]
Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once ran into a glass door in my house a few years back. For months after that, I had anxiety and "flashback" like replays of the event when walking anywhere near that door/area in my house. That one incident affected the functioning of my brain for a really long time, it was quite jarring.
Same happened to my dog in a hotel patio. She wouldn’t trust that the door was open probably due to a past event (older rescue). After a few days she trusted me when I called her through and finally believed the door was open. Then of course she saw a bird went to run through and this time it was fucking shut. Never voluntarily went through glass doors again. Can’t blame her. Rest in peace Lucy you were a gem of a do…
I had a similar problem with my dog, when I was a kid.
From that day forward, whenever I opened the door to let her in or out, I had to prove to her that the door was really open, usually by putting my arm through the space, or whatever.
She was the best dog, ever. Despite her -- not irrational -- fear of glass and screen doors.
Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same happened to my dog in a hotel patio. She wouldn’t trust that the door was open probably due to a past event (older rescue). After a few days she trusted me when I called her through and finally believed the door was open. Then of course she saw a bird went to run through and this time it was fucking shut. Never voluntarily went through glass doors again. Can’t blame her. Rest in peace Lucy you were a gem of a do…
I had a similar problem with my dog, when I was a kid. From that day forward, whenever I opened the door to let her in or out, I had to prove to her that the door was really open, usually by putting my arm through the space, or whatever. She was the best dog, ever. Despite her -- not irrational -- fear of glass and screen doors.
Yeah exactly! It as so annoying because I fully respected her decision too, I’d be skeptical in her shoes!
We don’t deserve dogs but I’m glad we’ve got ‘em!
Re: The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
#130I 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.
Also for deer. Deer are idiots, the males even more so during the rut. They will see similarly-sized deer in any vertical glass surface (their own reflection) and charge the window antlers-first. They break through the glass and now you have a deer running around inside your house or school. A few stickers won't stop them from seeing their reflection, but it will put an "object" between them and thereby stop the char…
I had a robin nest in my backyard close to my French doors. Every day one of them would pass by the doors, see their reflection and then attack it. Apparently they like to keep out competitors when they're nesting. They would at it for hours until I obscured the lower half with some potted plants.