birds

The average Canada goose produces 1.8 pounds of droppings per day - more than the weight of two unopened soda cans.

That piles up to more than 650 pounds per year. Multiply that by the booming goose population in Chicago parks, and you have a mess.

Armed with only paper bags and nets, volunteers will soon walk the streets of the Loop each morning, searching for birds in need of rescue.
This spring - as in every other year - thousands of birds passing through Chicago will crash into windows during the early hours of the morning. About half of those birds will be killed on impact, while many others are critically injured.

To aid those that are hurt, organizations like Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation send rescue and recovery teams into the city during each spring and fall migration season.

The Flint Creek center in downtown Chicago trains volunteers to rescue injured birds with nets and transport them in paper bags to the rehab clinic for treatment.

"We're trying to get to the birds before pedestrians step on them, before the gulls predate them," said Dawn Keller, director of Flint Creek. "And so it's kind of a race against the clock. We want to pick the birds up as quickly as possible. Additionally, head trauma is very time sensitive. So if we can get them here and get them treated faster, that's going to give them a better chance of survival."

Anywhere from 100 million to 1 billion birds crash into windows each year in the United States, scientists estimate. That's somewhere between 0.5 percent and 5 percent of the country's total bird population.

But even the high end of that range might be a conservative estimate, said Daniel Klem Jr., of Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, an ornithologist who has been studying the phenomenon for more than 35 years.

While the estimate of 1 billion bird strikes was calculated from an average of 10 bird strikes per building each year, 50 to 60 birds struck each building in Klem's most recent study.

Birds hit glass because their eyes are not equipped to perceive it - not because they lack intelligence, Klem said. "Birds act as if glass is completely invisible to them," he said. "They're deceived."

The fittest members of species as well as the unfit are killed by window collisions, he added. "This is an underappreciated source of avian mortality."

One reason so few people know about the issue is that fallen birds are often hidden from view, Klem said. "Think about the way people put plantings right around their buildings," he said. "If a bird gets whacked and falls in there, no one's going to see it. These animals don't last long. Predators pick these things up. They learn where the dead and dying are and they go on patrol."

Since windows collisions are an indiscriminate killer of birds, the best predictor of how many birds will hit buildings in any particular area is simply the number of birds in the vicinity, Klem said. That's why migratory season is an especially deadly time for birds in the Chicago area.

"We are along a major migratory flyway," said Sarah Beazley, a project coordinator for WRD Environmental who contracts with the city. "Birds fly along Lake Michigan every spring and fall, and I think we have a pretty big responsibility to provide some safety for them as they're flying through here because if it weren't for us, they'd be just fine."

Anywhere from 5 million to 8 million birds migrate through Chicago every year, Beazley said. They travel north on the Mississippi Flyway between March and June, then return south between August and November. Up to 1 million of those birds are injured or killed by striking buildings in the Chicago area, including some rare and endangered species, she said.

Problem buildings are typically any buildings with a lot of glass, Beazley said. Many birds follow waterways when they migrate, however, so fatalities in Chicago are most common near Lake Michigan and the rivers that run through the city.

Flint Creek, on Northerly Island near the Adler Planetarium, is the only bird rehabilitation center within the city limits. Located just off the lake, it is perfectly situated for quick care.

"The whole purpose of this facility really is to treat efficiently, to treat soon after injury and to stabilize," Keller said. "It's the nature of the injuries - they're very time-sensitive. It's very important that we're here."

A study by DePaul University found that the survival rate of birds treated at Northerly Island is 10 percent higher than those that are transported out to the suburbs, Keller said.

Flint Creek has another location in Barrington and is one of many local organizations working to save birds.

Chicago is following the lead of Toronto and New York in efforts to make buildings bird-safe to prevent injuries in the first place. "The mayor loves birds," Beazley said.

In 1999 the city instituted the Lights Out Chicago campaign, whose proponents ask businesses in downtown high rises to extinguish lights on upper floors overnight during migration season. "We estimate that the program saves 10,000 birds per year," said Judy Pollock, director of bird conservation for Audubon Chicago, which now runs the program. She said that 100 percent of buildings that meet the height requirements participate every migratory season.

In 2005, the city co-sponsored the Birds and Buildings conference. The first event of its kind, the conference launched the Birds and Buildings Forum to tackle the need for bird-friendly architecture.

The 2006 Bird Agenda, published by the Chicago Department of Environment, set out priorities for making Chicago bird friendly. The document proposed the promotion of bird-safe building design and review of lighting codes, among other measures.

Experts agree that large glass panes that reflect outdoor habitats are an extreme hazard for the birds. They not recognizing glass as a barrier, try to reach inviting trees or sky. The same is true for plants placed just inside windows.

Architects and glass manufacturers can make simple changes to decrease the number of deaths, Klem said. For example, the German firm Insolar has created a type of glass that uses ultraviolet light to help birds see the barrier. Guardian Global of Auburn Hills, Mich., also expects to release a bird-safe line of glass by 2009.

Many companies don't use bird-safe techniques, however, because they don't see a demand, Klem said. "It highlights the fact that more education is needed," he said. "People need to be convinced that they have a responsibility to save these animals."

There are many simple changes that individuals and building managers can make to help decrease the number of bird fatalities. Placing plants farther from the windows, turning off the lights at night, and closing the blinds or curtains can make a big difference for birds, experts said.

Putting decals on windows, no more than two inches apart horizontally and four inches vertically, will help birds to recognize a window as a solid object, Klem said. If the glass is reflective, however, it is important to put something on the outside so that birds will see it.

If you want to do more, Flint Creek is still putting together rescue and recovery teams for spring. Meanwhile, when you see pairs of people in the Loop with a net and a bunch of paper bags, give them a wave.

What to do if you find an injured bird:

If the bird is near a building, approach it from alongside the wall. That way, if it is frightened, it will attempt to fly away from the building rather than toward it.

Don't handle the bird longer than necessary. Ideally, you should put it in a non-waxed paper bag with a paper towel folded in the bottom. Fold over the top so the bird can't escape and keep it in a dark, quiet place. Be careful not to jostle it more than necessary, and avoid causing additional stress.

Birds can be brought to Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation on Northerly Island from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. daily. At other times, call (888) FLINTCREEK or (847) 842-8000.

If the bird has evidence of head trauma, swollen eyes, a deflated eye, head tremors, or has its head tucked into its back with a puffy appearance, it is likely in critical condition and needs immediate attention .