Did you know that it is estimated that 100 million birds are killed annually in the United States through collisions with buildings, primarily because the birds see reflections, rather than the glass?

Earlier this year at a Greening Your Library (GYL) workshop on Long Island, you may recall, I got stumped by a question from the audience about how to prevent “bird strikes.” The audience shared their solutions – window decals of a hawk and streamers outside for movement – and I wanted to share that I came across this product – one of BuildingGreen.com’s “Products of the Week” earlier this year made it to their Top Ten Products of the Year list: Ornilux Bird-Safe Glass.

The glass has patterning of UV-reflective coating that is nearly transparent to humans but clearly visible to birds.

• “Visually, the UV-reflective pattern on Ornilux glass is visible, but it is less apparent that many of the other strategies that have been tried to minimize bird collisions.”
• “Ornilux can be fabricated into a wide range of glazing systems, including high-performance double- and triple-glazed systems with low-emissivity (low-e) coatings.”