Bird-Safe Solutions for the Built Environment
The fall bird migration is underway! Most people aren't aware of this amazing natural cycle happening above our heads. Our homes, pets and communities can unknowingly place dangerous obstacles in the migrants’ paths.
An estimated 6.2 million birds crossed the skies over Alabama the evening of Sept. 15 alone. Across the U.S., billions of birds will take part in this migration over the coming weeks. Check out BirdCast's live radar and forecasting tools to see this natural wonder in action, and know when birds are active near you.
Here are six easy ways to enhance bird safety:
Turn off unnecessary nighttime lights
Use dark sky lighting
Close window shades
Move houseplants away from windows
Keep cats indoors
Get alerts and follow Migration Maps @cornellbirds
BirdCast map for the night of Sept. 16, 2026
An estimated 1 billion birds die from window collisions in the U.S. every year, according to the American Bird Conservancy. Birds are confused by the reflections of outdoor vegetation in the glass, or they see a houseplant indoors and are lured toward it.
At Watershed, we love connecting indoor and outdoor spaces, and we design a lot of windows, so we've long sought bird-safe solutions. New windows can be ordered with a nearly invisible UV or frit pattern that makes them legible as a solid surface to birds.
These bird-safe windows at Gulf State Park Lodge look like ordinary windows to humans but are legible as solid surfaces to birds.
However, bird-safe glass is cost-prohibitive for many of our projects. An alternative is to apply a bird-safe film to existing glass. There are many options available on the market, some more visible than others. We recently had bird-safe exterior film installed at the Watershed office by Vision Handyman. We love that this window treatment uses UV reflectivity to stay visible to birds while remaining virtually invisible to the human eye.
Windows at the Watershed office after the installation of bird-safe film.
If you're a birder or a homeowner who’s ever found a stunned bird outside your window, Christian Cooper's work is worth your time. The New York Times bestselling author of “Better Living Through Birding” visited Alabama for his National Geographic series “Extraordinary Birder.” And in his SELC podcast interview on birding for biodiversity and the soul, Cooper reveals why his trip to Alabama changed his life.
To read more about bird-safe window innovations, check out The Architect's Newspaper’s recent article about “Flyway City,” an exhibition by Studio Gang that explores how to design cities that coexist in harmony with birds.
Shielded down lighting at the Gulf Coast Eco Center shines light toward the ground instead of up at the sky.
At the Center for Living Mindfully, “moonlighting” aims light downward through the trees.
This graphic from the National Audubon Society and the Illuminating Engineering Society is a helpful guide for designing wildlife-friendly outdoor lighting.