Join Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society (DOAS) on Friday, April 18, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom for a presentation called “Preventing Bird-Window Collisions at Our Homes.” DOAS Education Chair Susan O’Handley will be presenting.
Birds are facing significant population challenges all over the world. Changes in habitat, seasons that are shifting, severe storms, and increased temperatures are all playing a part in an overall decline in numbers. The National Audubon Society is working to find ways to change those trajectories through significant and ambitious goals in conservation from both ends of the spectrum: increasing the chances for successful breeding bird seasons and reducing bird mortality rates.
We hear a good deal about bird-window collisions that occur in urban environments, because really, when you can show pictures of hundreds of bird deaths in a day during migration season, it becomes news. We read about it, we see pictures of it, and in response, we work to find solutions to prevent it from happening again. What we don’t hear about are the average of two birds per residence per year that occur from window strikes in suburban and rural neighborhoods. Although these don’t feel significant in comparison, if you add those numbers up, the deaths of birds as a result are staggering—more than in any city. It is estimated that over 1 billion birds die as a result of window collisions per year in North America. It is considered to be the third highest cause of bird mortality, following habitat loss and predation by domestic cats.
Susan will provide an overview of the issues that surround building collisions and actions that can be taken at our homes, businesses, schools, and other public buildings to help reduce the number of bird deaths each year.
This presentation is free and open to the public. Registration is required at https://mobilize.us/s/4Mcrr7
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Presenter Bio:
Susan O’Handley has been involved with local Audubon chapters for over thirty years and has served on the Board of Directors for the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society since 2012 (ten years as a co-president). Susan also works with the Audubon NY/CT Council Board, which is composed of twenty-seven Audubon chapters in NY State and six chapters in CT. She also serves on the Advisory Board for Audubon NY/CT Regional Office as the Chapter Representative. Susan owns and operates a small digital marketing agency in Hartwick, NY.
