Colliding into Glass

I’m lying on my back on the floor after running headfirst into a window and striking hard with my nose and my forehead. Hands over my face, I’m humiliated as nearby friends gasp. “Please just don’t tell anyone,” I say. Instead, I’m telling everyone who reads my blog.

“You’re like a bird that hit a window,” said my husband Wes in that comforting way he has. He really does know what will help me–stirring the beginning of a story in my writer’s mind. A silver lining. Empathy. How suddenly a world can change when air clangs shut into glass.

For too many birds, that’s their last moment. “One Night. One Building. 1000 Birds Dead” read the headline in the E-News I received from American Bird Conservancy the same day as my crash, October 9th.

The prior Wednesday night, almost 1000 migrating birds flew into McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago and died, with thousands more dead and injured across the city. This four-story building features a glass exterior facing Lake Michigan. Birds die here regularly, but this appears to be a horrible new record, according to Douglas Stolz, a senior conservation ecologist at the natural history museum just a mile away. In the New York Times article, Stolz explained the perfect storm of events leading to the tragedy– a fierce storm, a delay, huge numbers of birds flying at once in the night, and then another storm that caused the flocks to descend into the confusion of lights and reflective glass buildings.

In some premonition of my upcoming collision, the day before I’d put a post up on Facebook about this mass killing–photos of the dead and injured birds under the headline: “Photos Migrating Bird Carnage.” I noticed how few people clicked on the link. I get it. I, too, am drawn to posts on happy moments in people’s lives and photos of the natural world without blemish. We need our ways of renewal and restoration as we go forward caring and taking action on behalf of wildlife and wild places. We also can’t look away.

Say their names: Northern Flicker, Belted Kingfisher, White-crowned Sparrow, Swainson’s Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Pine Warbler, and the list goes on–every bird not just a species but an individual with a once beating heart, a song, and feathered wings flying far in a world where birds grow ever fewer because of us. A billion birds alone die every year from crashing into glass. Migration time is the most deadly of all.

Say my name. Marina. Sitting up, I notice blood in my palms and trickling down my face. My friends are crowding around. Ice, washcloths, and shocked murmurs. Who is there attending the struck bird? The 1000 dead on the streets? Who will say every name? I know there are many good people doing exactly that and my gratitude goes out to individuals like Annette Prince, director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

I was not migrating (and not all birds are migrating when they hit windows). Here’s what happened in yet another incident of Marina’s most embarrassing moments list (not to be shared). First, I wasn’t paying attention within an unfamiliar indoor space featuring sparkling glass windows and doors. Second, I was in a rush–running with my head turned right to look out another window to catch the attention of Wes in our car and let him know to come in. I’d forgotten there was a glass foyer between me and the outer door. Pivoting to look forward….bang! I bounced back onto the hard floor. Bruised nose and a couple scrapes. Bruised ego. And a reminder to myself. Slow down. Be aware of my surroundings! What is the hurry anyway?

But what can we tell the birds? None of that will work for them. However, we can take tangible actions on their behalf in our homes and communities, like adopting building standards to protect birds.

Here are two simple actions you can do now. The first? Turn off lights at night. The majority of birds migrate at night when it should be safer, yet instead they often encounter confusing and disorienting lights that exhaust them and lead to collisions. Please see this remarkable website called Bird Cast, which predicts migrations and shows night flights in real time on a map. Is your community and/or state part of the Lights Out program?

The second action is to prevent birds from flying into windows. Birds can be like me–seeing through a window to another window and thinking the way is clear, or mistaking a reflection for clear passage. We hang paracords on the outside of our windows from top to bottom and 4-5 inches apart–a simple homemade solution. We attach each cord by tacking it to the surface above the window with a nail. This link takes you to step-by-step instructions using a slightly different technique.

When it comes to fellow humans and preventing window or door strikes? Hmmm. I’m still smarting more from embarrassment than pain. And yes I do know a bit more what it is to be a bird–a fortunate one. I am pledging today to do even more for the birds I love–and to remember to call them by their names.

Time to walk outside this morning into our pollinator garden. I will greet my friends: Mountain Chickadee. Pygmy Nuthatch. Oregon Junco. Northern Flicker. Hairy Woodpecker. Steller’s Jay. Lesser Goldfinch. Spotted Towhee. All Companions. All Bright Souls.

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(Note–I was inspired to use the phrase “Say their names” from this powerful book of poetry, Enough, “Say Their Names…” Messages from Ground Zero to the World. (My poet friend Annis Cassells contributed seven poems to this powerful collection.)

Birds Flying Into Windows? Truths About Birds & Glass Collisions from ABC Experts

A few bird photos from our front yard at different times of year. Say their names…