Bird Safe Indy is an initiative of ABAS.   Working with partners, such as the City of Indianapolis and building managers, our mission is preventing bird deaths and saving energy by promoting bird-safe buildings and reducing nighttime lighting.

Why is This Important?

Populations of birds have dropped precipitously in the past 50 years, with recent research indicating that as many as 3 billion birds have been lost in North America since 1970. A portion of that comes from window strikes. Estimates vary widely from about 300 million to a startling billion casualties a year in the US alone due to window strikes. Through our Lights Out Indy and now Bird Safe Indy initiative, volunteers have personally witnessed many of these fatalities in Indianapolis.

Birds migrate at night every year by navigation of the moon and stars. These birds become disoriented when flying over brightly-lit buildings in city areas. Confused by the lights, the birds fly into the city, and the urban environment becomes a deadly trap. The birds strike buildings as they arrive. In the morning birds take flight and collide with buildings that have clear or reflective glass. These collisions can kill or injure the bird.

Dead Catbird
Injured Nashville Warbler

How Can You Help?

Take the actions listed below, especially during the critical migration months of April, May,  September, and October. Reducing lighting from midnight to dawn will have the biggest impact.

Building Owners and Managers

  • Extinguish decorative exterior lighting, upward-facing lights, and atrium lighting
  • If practical, ask cleaning crews to light and clean one floor at a time starting on the upper floors
  • Use timers and motion-sensing controls to reduce lighting needs
  • Incorporate bird-friendly building design like applying bird tape to windows

Tenants and Business Owners

  • Turn off lights and draw the blinds when you leave work
  • Use task lighting when working late
  • Promote Lights Out Indy through social media or flyers in your office
  • Contact us to sign up your business as a participant or encourage your building owner to do so

Residents and Homeowners

  • Sign up with us to monitor your downtown building or block for downed birds during migration
  • Volunteer to transport injured birds to a licensed bird rehabilitator
  • Support bird-friendly legislation with your state and local representatives
  • Spread the word to educate the public about how saving energy saves birds

For question or more information contact Austin Broadwater at:

loi@amosbutleraudubon.org

If you have questions about an injured bird please go to our Injured & Orphaned Animals Page HERE

Articles & Scientific Research

Bird-Friendly Building Design

There are a number of principals you can follow to make your home or business safer for birds.

  • Install bird-safe glass products that reduce transparency and reflectivity
  • Provide each window with exterior screens, netting, or shutters
  • Apply films, bird tape, or decals using the appropriate spacing
  • Print ceramic patterns onto glass which also adds to aesthetics
  • Turn off lights when not in use
  • Reduce brightness
  • Be cognizant of where vegetation is placed around buildings
Dead Hermit Thush in front of reflective window

Bird-friendly glass options

Legislation

Legislation can be an important aspect of helping birds that find themselves in the urban environment. Bird-safe building design can be enacted into law and will make a difference for birds. Model legislation is in the American Bird Conservancy document on bird-safe building design. Go to page 32 to see the model legislation.

https://abcbirds.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Bird-Friendly-Building-Design_Updated-April-2019.pdf

  • Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2019 applies to new construction and renovations

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/919/text

    Key provisions:

      • The use of plain glass is reduced to a maximum of 10% of a building’s façade up to 40 feet. Above 40 feet, plain glass can only comprise a maximum of 40 percent of the building’s façade
      • Applies to glass adjacent to atria or courtyards containing water features, plants, and other materials attractive to birds
      • No transparent passageways or corners
      • Outside lighting shall be appropriately shielded and minimized

  • Legislation from New York City enacted January 2020

    https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3903501&GUID=21B44B73-D7E1-4C55-83BD-1CA254531416&Options=&Search=

    Key provisions:

      • Surfaces on the lowest 75 feet of buildings require avian-friendly materials such as patterned glass
      • No bird hazard installations such as glass handrails and guards, glass windbreak panels, or glass acoustic barriers
      • No fly-through conditions

  • Legislation from Oakland, CA enacted June 2013

    https://goldengateaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/Oakland-Bird-Safety-Measures.pdf

    Key provisions:

      • Avoid the use of mirrors in landscape design
      • Apply bird-friendly glazing to at least 90 percent of windows and glass between the ground and 60 feet above the ground. Some positive glazing options include opaque glass, clear glass etched with patterns, and UV-pattern reflective glass (since unlike humans, most birds can see ultraviolet light)
      • Turn out nighttime architectural lights and avoid beam lighting during spring and fall migration seasons
      • Install timers or motion sensors on interior lights, so they can be programmed to turn off between 11:00 pm and sunrise
      • Include bird safety in building management plans. For instance, building managers could ask employees to draw blinds at night during migration season and could schedule nightly maintenance before 11:00 pm to keep buildings dark at night
      • Minimize roof antennas and other rooftop structures that create additional collision risks

  • Legislation from San Francisco, CA enacted November 2011

    https://www.sfbos.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/bdsupvrs/ordinances11/o0199-11.pdf

    Key provisions:

      • Netting in front of clear glass or breaking up the glass surface visually with fritting (ceramic lines or dots) which lets occupants see outside
      • Minimal lighting, shielded lighting, no uplighting, and, no event searchlights
      • Wind energy sites must not feature horizontal access windmills or vertical access wind generators that do not appear solid

Other Lights Out Programs

The first known Light Out program started in Toronto in 1993. In 1999, Chicago started a Lights Out program. ABAS started a Light Out Indy program in 2008. In 2023 ABAS changed the name to Bird Safe Indy to reflect a more comprehensive approach for birds. For more information on other programs, visit the National Audubon site HERE.