Comparison of bird-window collisions among old and new Ball State University buildings

Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community onlyWindow collisions are the second major anthropogenic cause of avian mortality killing up to 1 billion birds annually. Low-rise buildings, like those commonly found on college campuses, have a higher rate of bird-window collisions when compared to residential buildings and high rises. The majority of these mortalities occur during migration, with fall migration having on average more casualties than spring migration. Migratory birds are less familiar with their stopover locations making them more likely to be confused by lights shining through windows which can lead to window collisions. The objective of this study was to compare avian mortalities at older buildings on campus with new buildings, which have the potential for more avian collisions. From September to mid-November 2021, during weekday mornings, surveys were completed around five buildings on Ball State campus: Worthen Arena, Architecture Building, Bracken Library, Health Professions Building, and Foundational Sciences Building. As part of the survey, when a bird was found, it was photographed to identify location and species. I performed a binomial Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) to determine what building and weather characteristics were more likely to lead to bird-window collisions. The number of individuals from each family of birds collected during Fall 2021 was consistent with bird-window collision data collected on Ball State Campus during a previous study. Preliminary results show that more deceased birds from window collisions were found at the three older buildings on campus than the two new buildings.Thesis (M.A.