Birds and the Built Environment

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Protecting Birds in Built Environments

Beginning with an overview of the numerous dangers birds face in the built environment covering architecture, structures, lighting, and green spaces, solutions to mitigate these dangers are introduced based on their effectiveness and sustainability. The benefits of protecting birds are outlined as conservation and sustainable design goals.

 

Birdphilic: Designing to Connect Humans to Nature Through Birds

(Workshop Available)

Why should designers care about birds? Does being ‘bird-friendly’ matter, or is it for backyard birders? This talk explains how birds’ presence in the towns and cities connects humans to nature, fosters environmental stewardship, and enhances biophilic design. It then outlines how to incorporate these benefits into sustainable design and environmental education.

 

Birds and the Benefits of the Built Environment

Specific bird species can adapt to and thrive in the built environment. This talk explores how these species adapt to urbanization and how design can further support some avian species. This topic can be modified to fit local species.

 

Raptors and the Built Environment

(Workshop Available)

This presentation examines how design can support birds of prey by exploring the ways raptors like the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and accipiter hawks exploit and adapt to moderate to high levels of urbanization. Additionally, the talk will cover designed spaces with a complicated relationship with species like the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) and snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus).

 

Birds in the Built Environment and Avian/Environmental Education

(Workshop Available)

Humans often think of the ideal habitat for birds as a pristine, unaltered landscape. However, birds can thrive in the built environment and offer a connection to nature in dense urban areas. With half of the US population living in cities, making local connections to birds can foster stewardship to protect rural or wild habitats and wildlife. This talk will propose ways to incorporate examples of how urban birds exploit or adapt built environments into avian and environmental education programs to promote avian stewardship and conservation.

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Bird Building Collisions

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Bird Building Collision Solutions 

(Workshop Available)

Based on primary source martial, the first half of this talk outlines the dangers architecture poses to avian populations. The second half will demonstrate how to protect birds by avoiding dangerous designs and incorporating effective solutions to prevent bird building collisions based on currently available data. This talk can be tailored to designers, homeowners/renters, or both.

 

Bird Protecting Design

(Workshop Available)

This detailed presentation outlines the currently available bird protecting designs that are the most effective and least effective in reducing bird building collisions based on primary source data and case studies. This talk is tailored to architects and designers aware of bird building collisions and interested in designing to protect birds or create bird protecting guidelines.

 

Landscape Design, Greens Spaces, and Bird Building Collisions

(Workshop Available)

Landscape design and green spaces positively and negatively impact specific bird species in the built environment. This talk outlines how the elements of green spaces, from green roofs to native trees, impact bird populations and how the location of these green spaces influence bird building collisions.

 

Protecting Birds from Sustainable Design

(Workshop Available)

The design elements that connect us to nature, like large expansive windows, often pose a significant threat to bird species. This presentation will outline design elements that increase human well-being or protect nature as a whole but pose a threat to birds. This talk presents the solutions as a middle ground between bird conservation and sustainable policy and design.

 

Birds and the Dangers of Infrastructure

Energy infrastructure, communication towers, and common structures in the built environment, such as fences, cause up to 500 million avian deaths each year. This talk covers the causes of these fatalities and current or proposed solutions to prevent avian deaths.

 

Artificial Lighting and Bird Building Collisions

Artificial lighting attributes to the loss of birds through collisions with windows, solid structures, and disorientation. This talk explores how artificial lighting impacts avian behavior and poses a threat to migrating and local bird populations and offers solutions to mitigate these threats.

 

Bird Building Collisions and Avian Education

(Workshop Available)

This talk will outline the dangers of the built environment and the solutions, focusing on incorporating this information into avian education programs. This information can be tailored to avian ambassadors at your aviary or education center and local species.

 

Birds Deserve Better

Where do current solutions fall short? What data is missing, and how can we help provide it? What is the future of “bird-safe” design? These three questions are crucial to mitigating bird building collisions. This talk will explore how designers and conservationists can aid in researching bird building collisions by thinking outside of the currently proposed solutions.