There are numerous benefits of bird-safe glass: extending not only to birds, but the environment and humans as well. While you might be considering bird-safe glass for your next project due to a municipality or state requirements, there are certainly more reasons to consider this glass for future projects.
How Bird-Safe Glass Helps Birds
Birds are unable to recognize glass, instead perceiving whatever is reflected in its mirror-like surface. This can be the open sky or trees, which are attractive and safe for birds to fly towards. Unfortunately, it is estimated that between 100 million and 1 billion birds die annually due to collisions with man-made structures, making it one of the leading causes of death for migratory birds. Dr. Daniel Klem, who has been studying this phenomenon for more than four decades, shares his experience and knowledge on the subject in his white paper titled “The building industry and bird conservation”.
Bird-safe glass is designed to make glass visible to birds while still remaining transparent to humans. This can be achieved through techniques such as frit coatings, silk-screening, or ultraviolet applications, which create a pattern that breaks up the reflectivity of the glass and alerts birds to its presence. The most effective pattern spacing is known as the “2×4 rule,” which means that the markings are spaced two inches apart horizontally and four inches apart vertically. Research has shown that birds will not fly through spaces less than two inches high or four inches wide.
As more people become aware of the dangers posed to birds by conventional architectural glass in structures education and implementation of bird-safe glass is an important step in helping to protect our feathered friends and ensure their safety. This will enhance their habitats, which is good for the birds and our environment!
Benefits to the Environment (and People!)
Birds play important roles in keeping our ecosystems healthy by providing us with “ecosystem services,” which are important to us all and offer positive benefits that only natural systems can offer. These services range from providing food and oxygen to more subtle advantages like how vibrant wetlands can reduce storm and flood damage. By sharing our planet with birds, we reap many benefits, and while we won’t list all of them here, we’ll share a few important benefits with you!
A crucial role birds play in our ecosystems is by keeping our forests healthy by spreading seeds. Birds naturally munch on their favorite berries and plants, and then distribute the seeds around the forest floor, ensuring new plants continue to grow. This is vital to the ecosystem’s health and a crucial role that birds naturally maintain. However, berries and seeds aren’t the only important consumable of birds, they are experts at insect control as well.
Birds are natural “pest controllers” and voracious predators of pests. For instance, Barn Swallows can consume up to 60 insects an hour, helping to protect crops from pests. Similarly, Barn Owls can reduce populations of destructive rodents, such as gophers, while Western Bluebirds can save grapes on vineyards. Therefore, promoting and protecting bird habitats is a great alternative to the use of harmful pesticides.
Bird Safe Glass for Your Next Project
If you want to reap the benefits of bird safe glass for your next project, we proudly carry The Bird Safe Glass Line by GlasPro. Our Bird Safe Glass Line offers a range of highly-effective solutions to meet the varying construction specifications for bird-friendly architectural glass. Our Bird Safe family of products includes ultraviolet reflective, acid-etched, and frit pattern glass, all of which meet the industry-standard *2 x 4 rule for preventing bird collisions and strict requirements for safety, energy efficiency, and sustainability. If you are looking for a bird safe glass product for railings, we recommend using the frit pattern glass.
If you would like to discuss how bird safe glass can be incorporated into your project, please contact us today to learn more about how we can help you!
