All-glass buildings may be a contemporary architect’s dream, but for migratory birds, they’re an invisible threat. 

Associated Student Government’s Sustainability Committee hopes to address that threat with its “Petition to Make Mudd Library Bird Safe.” Created in October, the document calls on Northwestern to apply patterned plastic film on windows at Mudd Science and Engineering Library, the site of more than 14% of annual bird deaths and injuries on campus, according to data from Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

The petition had 561 signatures as of Monday, according to Weinberg junior Vlad Nevirkovets, a member of the Sustainability Committee’s Green Campus Subcommittee. The subcommittee has promoted the petition with flyers around campus and on social media.

Nevirkovets said the committee is currently writing ASG Senate legislation to officially call for the University to fund plastic film for Mudd’s lake-facing windows.

Communication freshman Madeline King signed the petition after seeing it in multiple student group chats.

“I’m passionate about the environment, and I care a lot about preservation, so I thought it was a good idea,” King said. “I hope it inspires the University to take action in other areas as well.”

When migratory birds encounter buildings with large windows and see trees or the lake in the reflection, they don’t realize there’s a solid object in their way, according to CBCM Director Annette Prince. 

She added that the petition estimate of “over 700 birds” injured or killed by on-campus collisions annually is just “the tip of an iceberg,” as the number only includes the birds reported to CBCM or found by volunteers. 

“We know that we don’t get to everything,” Prince said.

In addition to harming individual birds, Prince said collisions can threaten the survival of entire migratory species.

Prince said patterned plastic film aims to reduce bird collisions with subtle patterns dense enough to discourage birds from trying to fly through the gaps. NU applied plastic film to the Frances Searle Building between fall 2017 and spring 2018 and to the Kellogg Global Hub between spring and fall 2018. CBCM data shows the films have reduced bird collisions. 

City Council adopted a “Bird Friendly Building Design Ordinance” in September, which proposed new buildings adopt measures such as plastic film on windows to reduce their risk to birds. But Judy Pollock, president of the Chicago Audubon Society and member of Bird-Friendly Evanston, told The Daily before the ordinance passed that some of Evanston’s most dangerous buildings for birds were built on campus.

Nevirkovets said he got the idea for the petition from local advocates he met at the Evanston North Shore Bird Club. He emphasized that Evanston birders have previously pressured NU to implement bird safety measures, but he felt that showing student support would make University administration take their concerns more seriously.

“The reason that I joined ASG in the first place was to try and promote this initiative,” Nevirkovets said.

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Twitter: @seegergray

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