Evanston resident Laine Hoffman is retired, but that doesn’t stop her from completing a fulfilling job. Once a week, Hoffman, a Northwestern volunteer bird collision monitor, ventures to campus before sunrise, keeping an eye out for birds that have collided with buildings and recording data for the University.
Hoffman is one of several Evanston citizens that has pushed the University to make bird-friendly changes to the all-glass buildings on campus. While NU has made strides in responding to these concerns, Hoffman said the danger posed by the buildings is still present, and volunteers fear that it will be exacerbated by the University’s newest construction plans.
Collisions with glass windows may kill up to one billion birds every year in the United States, according to Bird Friendly Evanston member Allison Sloan.
Sloan says that NU is particularly affected by bird migration due to its location on the thoroughfare of the Mississippi Flyway.
“(It) is one of the busiest bird migration routes in the country,” Sloan said.
In the past, NU’s position regarding the flyway posed issues. In a statement to The Daily, Natural Habitat Evanston co-Lead Leslie Shad said the reflective glass windows of Kellogg Global Hub have killed or damaged hundreds of songbirds since it opened in 2017.
NU addressed these concerns in 2018 by applying line-patterned film windows to the Frances Searle Building and dot-patterned film to the Global Hub, two measures that allow birds to see and avoid windows.
In 2022, NU’s Associated Student Government’s Sustainability Committee, released the “Petition to Make Mudd Library Bird Safe,” which encouraged the University to apply patterned film to the Mudd Science and Engineering Library. Once again, the University complied.
Hoffman said these changes appear to be helping, but bird populations are still declining in the area.
The announcement of Kellogg’s new facility, set to replace the current James Allen Center, has drawn concern from the bird-activist community. The design, like the Global Hub, appears glass-heavy.
“How are they going to mitigate these windows?” Hoffman said. “I’ve been doing this for seven years. When are they going to make some changes?”
The Evanston City Council passed the Bird Friendly Building Design Ordinance in 2022, which aims to prevent bird crashes and deaths by incorporating bird-friendly designs into building projects.
In a statement to The Daily, NU’s Facilities Capital Programs Director of Construction David Stone said that plans for the new Kellogg Education Center will adhere to the ordinance.
In addition to minimizing landscape reflections and including compliant exterior lighting, Stone said NU is currently working with researchers from Michigan Technological University to implement pilot installations of an audio deterrent system. The system, Stone wrote, has reduced bird injuries and fatalities by nearly 85%.
Shad said Natural Habitat Evanston will “be watching the approval process carefully to be sure this new construction will comply with the ordinance.”
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Related Stories:
— Northwestern takes steps to make campus buildings more bird-friendly after monitors raise concerns
— ASG petition aims to save birds from campus window collisions
— Environmental board discusses, delays ordinance for preventing bird collisions with buildings
