I suspect that the incidence of bird collisions in Australia is a lot higher
than you think, Michael, although, as far as I'm aware, there are no
official statistics.
Last year I advised the NSW RTA on how to prevent bird collisions with
transparent or semi-transparent road noise walls. Birds can see the UV part
of the light spectrum whereas humans can't. There is a range of plastic and
glass materials that contain UV-reflective films or paints, developed mostly
in North America and Europe, which make windows and other structures more
visible to birds, but still allow us to see clearly through them. Use of
these materials in buildings (in North America and Germany, in particular)
has been very successful in significantly reducing bird collisions. There
are many other preventative measures (e.g. use of fritted glass or plastics,
angling of windows, use of bird screens & decals), which when I have the
time will describe on Birding-aus.
Dr Stephen Ambrose
Ambrose Ecological Services Pty Ltd
Ryde, NSW
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of michael norris
Sent: Monday, 16 February 2009 9:32 PM
To: Stephen Ransom
Cc: birding-aus
Subject: Birds Crashing into Buildings
Hi Steve
As a local (Bayside, Vic) Councillor I think the GBCA is doing a great
leadership job. At every opportunity I tell people your 5* is a genunine
international rating while the Victorian (BCA?) residential is just over 2
2*. And it only looks at energy efficiency, not materials locations.....
It makes me sick having to approve apartment buildings located to save 1
tonne pa of CO2e but with a design with no cross ventilation.... and built
of concrete which probably costs 9 tonnes more than it should.
Anyhow I am of course underqualified at almost everything. On windows my
impression is that there is a strong geographical element: in Hobart
everything should be done to minimise Swift Parrot impacts (including using
materials instead of wire netting around tennis courts). Around here the
most frequent reported casualty are Sacred Kingfishers, which fly quite low.
I know in the USA there are teams of birders who go around city streets
analysing mortality. It would be good to mobilise people to do the same in
our capital cities but I suspect (on thin evidence) that not many corpses
would be found.
The reason is that, as far as I know, we have very few regular (known)
migratory routes. And that is restricted to the White-naped and
Yellow-faced Honeyeater movement down the east coast (which does not
actually go to Sydney?). At a much lower (altitudinal level) are species
like fantails.....
Not that we know what the effects of climate change will be on these
patterns.
I've copied this to Birding-Aus so that I can learn what I've got wrong!
Best wishes
Michael Norris
37° 59' S 145° 0' E
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