PS 39-78 - Bird age and likelihood of fatal window collisions at Utah State University’s Classroom and Student Services Building, Brigham City, UT

Abstract: Around 97.6–975.6 million birds fatally collide with windows each year in North America. Bird age could be a contributor to the collisions. The central focus of our research project is to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between the age of an individual bird and the likelihood of a fatal collision with a human-made window. Personally collected data regarding window collisions, was obtained from daily surveys of the Classroom and Student Services (CSS) Building at the Utah State University-Brigham City campus (Brigham City, UT 84302). These data combined with census data from four previous years were examined and aged. By examining the plumage of the birds that have collided with the CSS Building to determine their ages, we hope to determine whether individual bird age is a determining factor in fatal window collisions. We have collected data with a small sample size of 42 individuals and found a nonsignificant trend with adult birds colliding more often than younger birds. This ongoing project aims to obtain enough data to determine whether our initial findings reach significance.