A University of Cincinnati ornithologist said more than 50 birds died on campus in a single day in September after flying into windows, a “mass mortality” he and student activists highlighted Monday while pressing UC to act.
Ronald Canterbury, who runs UC’s longtime bird-banding program, said his students typically find about eight dead birds on their morning routes but documented at least 50 in one day, prompting protests and a petition urging the school to harden buildings against strikes, according to WCPO Cincinnati. UC said it’s “committed to a comprehensive approach” and noted bird-safe upgrades already installed on the renovated Old Chemistry building. (RELATED: Tens Of Thousands Of Birds Trapped In Eye Of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa)
“They are telling us something is wrong,” Canterbury told the outlet. “Scientists like me are sounding the alarm. But we don’t have enough people taking action.”
A local volunteer working with the international animal welfare charity “Four Paws” feeds the lion, Simba, a dead bird as he gives treatment to animals which were abandoned in the Muntazah al-Nour zoo in eastern Mosul on February 21, 2017. (Photo by SAFIN HAMID/AFP via Getty Images)
Canterbury said drought followed by heavy rain likely funneled migrating birds into glass-heavy corridors where reflections acted like a maze. He wants UC to expand collision-deterrent treatments after reporting the Old Chem retrofit cut deaths from roughly 20 to four.
Student organizers with Queer Birders of Cincinnati rallied on campus Monday, linking to a petition titled “Make Buildings Safe for Migrating Birds on the University of Cincinnati’s Campus.”
The scale of the problem extends beyond one campus. Research summarized by the National Audubon Society finds U.S. building collisions kill well over a billion birds annually when post-impact mortality is included — a toll experts say is preventable with patterned glass, exterior screens and light-reduction policies.
UC has publicized its bird-safe glass work and Canterbury’s research in recent months; the professor and his students have been documenting window-strike fatalities in Cincinnati for more than a decade. Activists say the university should now apply those fixes to other high-risk facades.
