Lights Out Buckeyes - Factors Influencing Avian Window Collisions

Migratory songbirds migrate primarily at night. Artificial lighting disrupts this natural phenomenon by disorienting and drawing in birds that migrate through urban landscapes each spring and fall. In the United States, between 365 to 988 million birds are killed in window collisions each year (Loss 2014). I have sought to pinpoint exactly when, where, and why these collisions are occurring on campus. I led a team of researchers that consisted of students in the Ornithology Club at Ohio State. We monitored most buildings on The Ohio State University main campus for window collision birds. Our findings will hopefully inform and promote future university management decisions to mitigate window collisions on our college campus and other urban areas. In addition, this research will expand our knowledge of factors causing wildlife collisions and will lead to other Universities to follow in our footsteps. We recommend that glass be remediated, building and exterior lighting be turned off or dimmed at night during migration seasons, and future building plan regulations will call for safer architectural design for wildlife.Ohio Bird Conservation InitiativeNo embargoAcademic Major: Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlif