Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Window collisions by migratory bird species: urban geographical patterns and habitat associations

  • Published:
Urban Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bird collisions with buildings are an increasing concern and yet understanding the factors contributing to collisions at the species level remains largely unknown. This gap in our knowledge of species-specific strike patterns hinders the development of accurate estimates for the impact of death-by-collision on bird populations and impedes on our ability to minimize its effects. Our study offers the first examination of the impact of environmental variables on bird-window collisions at the species level. The Fatal Light Awareness Program Canada collected bird-window collision data in three distinct regions of Toronto, Canada during the migratory season of the years 2009 and 2010. Our results indicated that building percent window cover, exposed habitat cover, and cover of built structures significantly affect bird-window collisions. Multivariate analyses showed that the bird species that collided with buildings surrounded by a high level of urban greenery are species that typically occur in forested habitats and are foliage gleaners. In contrast, species that collided with buildings surrounded by a higher level of urbanization are species that typically occur in open woodland and are ground foragers. These results suggest that the composition of bird species colliding with buildings across various regions of the Greater Toronto Area is influenced by the local bird species community composition, by the configuration of the surrounding landscape, and by the levels of greenery around the buildings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Balogh AL, Ryder TB, Marra PP (2011) Population demography of Gray Catbirds in the suburban matrix: sources, sinks and domestic cats. J Ornithol 152:717–726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banks RC (1976) Reflective plate glass—a hazard to migrating birds. Bioscience 26:414

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayne S, Rawson-Clark E (2012) Factors influencing the annual risk of bird–window collisions at residential structures in Alberta, Canada. Wildl Res 39:583–592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beissinger SR, Osborne DR (1982) Effects of urbanization on avian community organization. Condor 84:75–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop CA, Brogan JM (2013) Estimates of avian mortality attributed to vehicle collisions in Canada. Avian Conserv Ecol 8:2

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair RB (1996) Land use and avian species diversity along an urban gradient. Ecol Appl 6:506–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair R (2004) The effects of urban sprawl on birds at multiple levels of biological organization. Ecol Soc 9:2

    Google Scholar 

  • Blancher P (2013) Estimated number of birds killed by house cats (Felis catus) in Canada. Avian Conserv Ecol 8:3

    Google Scholar 

  • Borden WC, Lockhart OM, Jones AW, Lyons MS (2010) Seasonal, taxonomic, and local habitat components of bird-window collisions on an urban university campus in Cleveland, OH. Ohio J Sci 110:44–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvert AM, Bishop CA, Elliot RD, Krebs EA, Kydd TM, Machtans CS, Robertson GJ (2013) A synthesis of human-related avian mortality in Canada. Avian Conserv Ecol 8:11

    Google Scholar 

  • Chase JF, Walsh JJ (2006) Urban effects on native avifauna: a review. Landsc Urban Plan 74:46–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clergeau P, Savard JPL, Mennechez G, Falardeau G (1998) Bird abundance and diversity along an urban–rural gradient: a comparative study between two citites on different continents. Condor 100:413–425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clergeau P, Jokimäki J, Snep R (2006) Using hierarchical levels for urban ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 21:660–661

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford RL (1981) Bird kills at a lighted man-made structure: often on nights close to a full moon. Am Bird 35:913–914

    Google Scholar 

  • Diehl RH, Larkin RP, Black JE (2003) Radar observations of bird migration over the Great Lakes. Auk 120:278–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn EH (1993) Bird mortality from striking residential windows in winter (mortalidad de aves ocasionada por choques con ventanas durante el invierno). J Field Ornithol 65:302–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Edgar DR, Kershaw GP (1994) The density and diversity of the bird populations in three residential communities in Edmonton, Alberta. Can Field Nat 108:156–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans KL, Newson SE, Gaston KJ (2009) Habitat influences on urban avian assemblages. Ibis 151:19–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flather C, Sauer J (1996) Using landscape ecology to test hypotheses about large-scale abundance patterns in migratory birds. Ecology 77:28–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fontana S, Sattler T, Bontadina F, Moretti M (2011) How to manage the urban green to improve bird diversity and community structure. Landsc Urban Plan 101:278–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller RA, Irvine KN, Devine-Wright P, Warren PH, Gaston KJ (2007) Psychological benefits of green space increase with biodiversity. Biol Lett 3:390–394

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gauthreaux SA (1980) Animal migration, orientation, and navigation. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauthreaux SA, Belser CG (2006) Effect of artificial night lighting on migrating birds. In: Rich C, Longcore T (eds) Ecological consequences of artificial night lightning. Island Press, Washington, pp 67–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelb Y, Delacretaz N (2009) Windows and vegetation: primary factors in Manhattan bird collisions. Northeast Nat 16:455–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hager SB, Craig ME (2014) Bird-window collisions in the summer breeding season. Peer J 2:e460

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hager SB, Trudell H, Mckay KJ, Crandall SM, Mayer L (2008) Bird density and mortality at windows. Wilson J Ornithol 120:550–564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hager SB, Cosentino BJ, McKay KJ, Monson C, Zuurdeeg W, Belvins B (2013) Window area and development drive spatial variation in bird-window collisions in an urban landscape. PLoS ONE 8(1):e53371

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert AD (1970) Spatial disorientation in birds. Wilson Bull 82:400–419

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson DA (1997) Compositional data in community ecology: the paradigm or peril of proportions? Ecology 78:929–940

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson DA, Harvey HH (1989) Biogeographic associations in fish assemblages: local versus regional processes. Ecology 70:1472–1484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalinowski RS, Johnson MD (2010) Influence of suburban habitat on a wintering bird community in coastal northern California. Condor 112:274–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klem D (1989) Bird-window collisions. Wilson Bull 101:606–620

    Google Scholar 

  • Klem D (1990a) Collisions between birds and windows: mortality and prevention. J Field Ornithol 61:120–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Klem D (1990b) Bird Injuries, cause of death, and recuperation from collisions with windows (Heridas, Causas de Muerte y Restablecimiento de Aves que Chocan con Ventanas). J of Field Ornithol 61:115–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Klem D, Farmer CJ, Delacretaz N, Gelb Y, Saenger P (2009) Architectural and landscape risk factors associated with bird-glass collisions in an urban environment. Wilson J Ornithol 121:126–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster RK, Rees WE (1979) Bird communities and the structure of urban habitats. Can J Zool 57:2358–2368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepczyk CA, Mertig AG, Liu J (2003) Landowners and cat predation across rural-to-urban landscapes. Biol Conserv 115:191–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longcore T, Smith PA (2013) On avian mortality associated with human activities. Avian Conserv Ecol 8:1

    Google Scholar 

  • Longcore T, Rich C, Mineau P, MacDonald B, Bert DG, Sullivan LM, Mutrie E, Gauthreaux Jr.SA, Avery ML, Crawford RL, Manville II AM, Travis ER, Drake D (2012) An estimate of avian mortality at communication towers in the United States and Canada. PLoS ONE 7(4) doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034025

  • Loss SR, Will T, Marra PP (2012) Direct human-caused mortality of birds: Improving quantification of magnitude and assessment of population impact. Front Ecol Environ 10:357–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loss SR, Will T, Loss SS, Marra PP (2014) Bird-building collisions in the United States: estimates of annual mortality and species vulnerability. Condor: Ornithol Appl 116:8–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacGregor-Fors I, Schondube JE (2011) Gray vs. green urbanization: relative importance of urban features for urban bird communities. Basic Appl Ecol 12:372–381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Machtans CS, Wedeles CHR, Bayne EM (2013) A first estimate for Canada of the number of birds killed by colliding with building windows. Avian Conserv Ecol 8:6

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin GR (2011) Understanding bird collisions with man-made objects: a sensory ecology approach. Ibis 153:239–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melles S, Glenn S, Martin K (2003) Urban bird diversity and landscape complexity: species-environment associations along a multiscale habitat gradient. Conserv Ecol 7:5

    Google Scholar 

  • Minor E, Urban D (2010) Forest bird communities across a gradient of urban development. Urban Ecosyst 13:51–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore FR, Gauthreaux SA, Kerlinger P, Simons TR (1995) Habitat requirements during migration: important link in conservation. In: Martin TE, Finch DM (eds) Ecology and management of neotropical migratory birds: a synthesis and review of critical issues. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 121–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Mumme RL, Schoech SJ, Woolfenden GE, Fitzpatrick JW (2000) Life and death in the fast lane: demographic consequences of road mortality in the Florida Scrub-Jay. Conserv Biol 14:501–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nenadic O, Greenacre M (2007) Correspondence analysis in R, with two- and three-dimensional graphics: the ca package. J Stat Softw 20:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Newton I (2008) The migration ecology of birds. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dougan & Associates and North–south Environmental (2009) Migratory Birds of Toronto. Report for City of Toronto

  • Ogden LJE (1996) Collision course: The hazards of lighted structures and windows to migrating birds. University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/flap/3/

  • Oksanen J, Blanchet FG, Kindt R, Legendre P, Minchin PR, O’Hara RB, Simpson GL, Solymos P, Stevens MHH, Wagner H (2013) vegan: Community Ecology Package. R package version 2.0-10. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vegan

  • Pennington DN, Hansel J, Blair RB (2008) The conservation value of urban riparian areas for landbirds during spring migration: land cover, scale, and vegetation effects. Biol Conserv 141:1235–1248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petit DR (2000) Habitat use by landbirds along nearctic-neotropical migration routes: implications for conservation of stopover habitats. Stud Avian Biol 20:15–33

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2013) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/

  • Riffell SK, Keas BE, Burton TM (2003) Birds in North American Great Lakes coastal wet meadows: is landscape context important? Landsc Ecol 18:95–111

  • Robertson BA, Hutto RL (2006) A framework for understanding ecological traps and an evaluation of existing evidence. Ecology 87:1075–1085

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson SK, Hoover JP (2011) Does forest fragmentation and loss generate sources, sinks, and ecological traps in migratory songbirds? In: Liu J, Hull V, Morzillo AT, Wiens JA (eds) Sources, sinks and sustainability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; New York, pp 423–449

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sattler T, Borcard D, Arlettaz R, Bontadina F, Legendre P, Obrist MK, Moretti M (2010) Spider, bee, and bird communities in cities are shaped by environmental control and high stochasticity. Ecology 91:3343–3353

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schaub M, Kéry M, Korner P, Korner-Nievergelt F (2011) A critique of ‘Collision mortality has no discernable effect on population trends of North American Birds’. PLoS ONE 6:e24708, Comments (Online) URL: http://www.plosone.org/annotation/listThread.action?root=9659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seewagen CL, Slayton EJ (2008) Mass changes of migratory landbirds during stopovers in a New York City park. Wilson J Ornithol 120:296–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stracey CM (2011) Resolving the urban nest predator paradox: the role of alternative foods for nest predators. Biol Conserv 144:1543–1550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stracey CM, Robinson SK (2012a) Is an urban-positive species, the Northern Mockingbird, more productive in urban landscapes? J Avian Biol 43:50–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stracey CM, Robinson SK (2012b) Are urban habitats ecological traps for native songbird? Season-long productivity, apparent survival, and site fidelity in urban and rural habitats. J Avian Biol 42:50–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stratford JA, Robinson WD (2005) Distribution of Neotropical migratory birds across an urbanizing landscape. Urban Ecosyst 8:59–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suarez-Rubio M, Thomlinson JR (2009) Landscape and patch-level factors influence bird communities in an urbanized tropical island. Biol Conserv 142:1311–1321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verheijen FJ (1958) The mechanism of trapping effect of artificial light sources upon animals. Ar Néerl de Z 13:1–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verheijen FJ (1981) Bird kills at tall lighted structures in the USA in the period 1935–1973 and kills at a Dutch lighthouse in the period 1924–1928 show similar lunar periodicity. Ardea 69:199–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Vries S, Verheij RA, Groenewegen PP, Spreeuwenberg P (2003) Natural environments – healthy environments? An exploratory analysis of the relationship between green space and health. Environ Plan 35:1717–1731

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project would not have been possible without the help of members from the Fatal Light Awareness Program. We are particularly grateful to the volunteers of FLAP Canada who gathered the bird collision data used in this project. We would like to thank Robin Poot from Airborne Sensing Corporation and Bob Gaspirc from the Geospatial Competency Centre of the city of Toronto who provided the infrared aerial images. We are thankful for funding provided by an NSERC Discovery Grant to D.A. Jackson. We thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable feedback.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B2, Canada

    Marine Cusa & Donald A. Jackson

  2. Fatal Light Awareness Program Canada (FLAP Canada), 123 Queen St. West, Box 199, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 3M9, Canada

    Michael Mesure

Authors
  1. Marine Cusa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Donald A. Jackson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michael Mesure
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marine Cusa.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Fig. 1

Regression plots for additional building façade variables and BWC. The relationship with Percent glass is significant with r2 = 0.36, p < 0.001 and rτ = 0.43, p < 0.001. Relationship with Façade length and Façade surface area are not significant with r2 = -0.012, p = 0.933 and rτ = 0.01, p = 0.882; and r2 = -0.01, p = 0.750 and rτ = -0.07, p = 0.378 respectively. (GIF 664 kb)

(TIFF 5307 kb)

Fig. 2

Regression plots for additional building variables and BWC. The relationship with Percent glass is significant with r2 = 0.70, p < 0.001 and rτ = 0.65, p < 0.001. Relationship with building height and building top surface area are not significant with r2 = 0.008, p = 0.279 and rτ = -0.10, p = 0.452; and r2 = 0.02, p = 0.245 and rτ = 0.14, p = 0.317 respectively. (GIF 600 kb)

(TIFF 5307 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cusa, M., Jackson, D.A. & Mesure, M. Window collisions by migratory bird species: urban geographical patterns and habitat associations. Urban Ecosyst 18, 1427–1446 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0459-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0459-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation