Bird-friendly windows installed on UAB’s new Genomic building [PHOTOS]

Here is a cringe-worthy statistic. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, nearly one billion birds die a year in the U.S. colliding with glass windows. It is the second leading cause of bird mortality.

To help start addressing this problem, UAB has recently installed bird-friendly glass windows at its new Altec Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building.

Alabama Audubon: A huge deal

“This is a huge deal. When I found out that the new Genomics building was going to have bird-safe glass on it, I couldn’t stop smiling for a week.” 

Lianne Koczur, Science and Conservation Director, Alabama Audubon

This ground-breaking project was years in the making thanks to a partnership between UAB Sustainability and Alabama Audubon.

UAB Sustainability Director Bambi Ingram first started working with Alabama Audubon when they asked to do bird surveys on campus through their volunteer bird monitoring program, Project Safe Flight.

“They’ve been doing it for about three years. They send volunteers out all over the city, not just UAB, in the early morning, during the spring and the fall migrations. They look, at the sides of buildings and underneath bushes and things like that, to find stunned, injured or dead birds. With the data they’ve been able to let us know what our real problem points are on campus.”

Bambi Ingram, Director, UAB Sustainability  

Six-story curtainwall spanning 50,000 sq. ft. 

One of the ways to prevent birds from colliding into buildings is by installing bird-friendly glass like UAB has at the Genomics building.

If you haven’t made it over to UAB to see the glass installation along 19^th Street and 7th Avenue South, it is aesthetically pleasing and destined to be a landmark here in The Magic City.

The design? A double helix, of course.

Williams Blackstock Architects provided us with additional details:

• They have incorporated etched glass with a bird protection frit into the building’s 6-story curtainwall, which spans nearly 50,000 square feet
• The bird protection frit consists of acid-etched dots on the exterior glass surface, designed to make the glass visible to birds to prevent collisions while maintaining the clarity and aesthetic appeal for humans inside

“This project serves as a potential model for future construction, not just on the UAB campus but elsewhere, demonstrating that environmental considerations can be effectively integrated into the design process. Furthermore, it opens the door to retrofitting existing buildings with similar sustainable features, extending the impact beyond new construction.”

Binx Newton, Principal, Williams Blackstock Architects

Next steps: more monitoring, more bird-friendly glass installations

Want to know how you can help protect birds from glass window collisions?

Audubon’s Koczur provided us with a list:

• Become a Project Safe Flight volunteer – sign up today for the spring migration
• Purchase bird-friendly decals for your windows at home and local office. Recently, several environmental education/advocacy offices did this: Ruffner Mountain, Alabama Wildlife Center and Nature Conservancy in Alabama, thanks in large part to a grant from EBSCO Industries. Helpful tips from National Audubon.

At UAB, Ingram told Bham Now she looks forward to making bird-friendly glass windows as part of the school’s overall urban conservation effort.

“People don’t think about their urban areas as being a place where you need to encourage habitat but we do. We know that our urban environment is also a place where we can encourage native plants and birds and animals to share the space with us.”

Bambi Ingram, Director, UAB Sustainability

Have birds collided with windows in your office or home? Tell us what you have done to prevent it by tagging us on social media at @bhamnow