College students design films to prevent birds from crashing into windows.
By Susan Cosier
Published: May-June 2012

Ninety-six pieces of 13-by-19-inch transparent film lined windows at Philadelphia’s Temple University this past spring, each donning an artful illustration designed to make the glass more visible to birds. One piece of film featured origami cranes; another showed birds perched on a musical staff, arranged to signify notes in a composition called “The Cardinal.� In crafting their work, the creators—students at Temple’s Tyler School of Art—followed strict guidelines on how to prevent bird strikes with windows. “From the sublime to the whimsical, it was all very inventive,� says Alice Drueding, Tyler’s graphic and interactive design head.

One hundred million to a billion birds die annually from crashing into glass, according to the American Bird Conservancy, and more than 1,000 die each year on Temple’s campus. “What we want to do is use this as an opportunity to make people aware that this is a potential solution,� says Audubon Pennsylvania’s outreach coordinator in Philadelphia, Keith Russell, who dreamed up the exhibit and helped judge the best design. Surface Care, a New York–based company, is interested in printing and testing some of the films at Temple, where Russell will monitor their effectiveness. “We want to get the data so that we can say yes, they’re not only pretty,� Russell says, “but they work.�

This piece originally ran in the May-June 2012 issue as "Artful Dodging."



Audubon Magazine

Beauty awaits DC's arrival.

A yucky day so far.

dad re-arranges 

June 8

Fish deliveries seem to be back on track again with a possible Salmon (our female started shredding it before we were able to confirm), a Rainbow Trout and a ubiquitous ‘Mystery Fish’. The ever growing chick has been well fed so much so it was refusing food earlier when its mum was determined to feed it. The chick is going from strength to strength and is becoming much darker and looking more like an osprey and less like a reptilian dinosaur every day. The feathers are clearly coming through on many parts of the body and it’s very active often roaming around the nest or wiggling around underneath its mother. She’s been huddled on the nest for most of today probably in response to the weather which has been wet and windy, a typical Scottish summer day!

!!! No sighting of Tristan.
June 08, 2012 - Toronto - King Street
Linda Woods Reports:

I arrived on the King St site after checking in on the Sheraton site. Multiple walkarounds trying to get an angle of every possible corner of the buildings around 18 King St gave no indication as to where Tristan could be. The adults were staying in the direct area, so Tristan could not have moved out of their sight.  Paul and I scoured the area. Adults seemed to be paying attention to 33 Victoria street. This building takes up most of the block and has multiple address.  A food drop was made around 8:45 pm without and vocalizing from the fledgling. One adult was on the south east corner above the louvers of 33 Victoria Street.  Paul and I closed the watch around 8:50 p.m. Shortly after Mark arrived and saw both adults on the south east corner above the louvered area of 33 Victoria.  I think this is where Tristan could be. There is a cooling tower behind the louvered area and although there is a screen covering this area. We are not sure if the screen covers the entire cooling tower.  Tomorrow we will be back early in the morning and if still no sighting of Tristan, we will try for a better view from a different angle.

!!! All is quiet, with exception of Turkey Vulters
June 08, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:

A quick check on the Sheraton, late this afternoon, all four seemed to be lounging the late afternoon away. Rhea Mae and Tiago were not  in my view. Back down to ground level, viewing from across the street, two Turkey Vultures came floating through the downtown core and over the Sheraton. Rhea Mae and Tiago were in hot pursuit and pushed them out of the area.  And that was the most exciting event of the evening. I decided that not much flapping or activity at this time, I would walk a few blocks over to King St to help locate the fledgling from that nest site.  Rain expected tomorrow, lets hope they all decided to stay at home until the weather clears.

(movie) They morph

Newest Fargo falcon banded

http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/64785/

http://www.bensonhurstbean.com/2012/06/baby-falcon-makes-his-home-atop-the-verrazano-bridge/

Very cool video narrated by Chris N

Not gonna walk, gonna fly down there.
(NOT)

With all the room they have on the ledge, that one had to lay right in FRONT of the nest box.   

Beauty almost gone

Like he's been doing it for years.

 DC

[No Fledge Yet But We Are Close!!June 07, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life CentreTracy Simpson Reports:Post for Frank Butson.]

No Fledge Yet But We Are Close!!
June 07, 2012 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Tracy Simpson Reports:

Post for Frank Butson.

On the early shift, Diana was on site watching the juveniles and there was a feeding early on followed by a great deal of flapping.  At 8:30am, Tracy and I arrived to find Jack and O’Connor both on site; Jack was roosting and preening on top of the nest building and O’Connor was moving about the territory clearing the air space for Euro who seemed to be the most active of the bunch.  Just after 9am, an immature Bald eagle flew between the two condos, circled and headed back towards the lake with no reaction from either parent.  By noon, Euro and one of his sisters were actively preening the afternoon away removing the last of their downy childhood feathers.  The next food package came in at around 3pm and was quite small; just enough to whet the appetite.  O’Connor spent the next hour circling the nest building and then on to the entire neighborhood on recon flights looking for anything that could interfere with the first flights of her young ones.  Another food package arrived just after 4pm that was too small to fill them up but just enough to quiet them down.  Tracy and Mark arrived just after 6pm and things began to heat up with Euro running the length of the ledge back and forth and gearing up for a first leap into the air.  At one point, he made his way down to the east end of the ledge and was looking over to the next ledge with serious intent on his face.  For a moment it looked as if he was going to make the leap to the other side but at the last minute he realized that he just wasn’t fired up enough!!  A late night meal was delivered by Jack just before 9pm that was enough to send everyone to bed for the night.  O’Connor then made her way over to the chicks on the tray for a quick good night squawk and then up to the top of the camera where she went to bed herself.  Tomorrow should be interesting as Euro is more than ready to go and O’Connor knows it!!  Pictures from today will be posted shortly so check back soon.

!!! Twitter and General Brock fledged
June 07, 2012 - Windsor - Ambassador Bridge
Dennis Patrick Reports:

There’s been so much activity I don’t know where to start so we’ll start with the day before the fledging started. Tuesday, we were there for over five hours watching all four chicks and Mom and Dad. Lots of flapping, very noisy and lots of eating going on. We find this year that Freddie and Voltaire are so much more relaxed and we believe it’s because of the nest box. Thank You to CPF for providing it and placing it when the chicks were being banded last year.
Wednesday we got a call from our early morning Volunteer that Twitter had flown from the nest around 6 A.M. She was on the steps of the buiding next to the parking lot across the street where the nest is situated. She kept on going up until she came to the roof then she stayed there for quite a while resting and looking around. She did a great job flying across the street and landing on the abutment. We watched her walk up the pipes until it got windy and she decided to walk into a perfect little hide away for the night.
This morning we arrived there to find out that General Brock had fledged as well. He was flying around and doing a great job until he came down in the parking lot and proceeded to walk up the same steps as Twitter did the day before. When he reached the roof he flew over to the next building and stayed there for quite awhile just looking around at everything that was going on. Voltaire came in with food for him. A while later he decided it was time for another flying trip which he did and landed on the abutment. When we left he was still there and had been fed by Voltaire while Twitter was on the beams behind the Bridge. Freddy and Voltaire are well aware of where they all are resting. After seeing Twitter and General Brock do so well in their flying we are now looking forward to seeing Viper and Eddy do the same. We have lots of Volunteers this year which makes it less stressful for us. A big Thank You to everyone that shows up to Watch, it makes life easier for us. Lots of people are stopping by because they have heard about it on the radio and T.V. It’s great to have people stopping by to ask questions. Having four of these beautiful creatures is a wonderful thing. We always say “you don’t have to look for nature, it finds you instead.�
Stay tune for more news as these four fly around.
Gwen & Dennis Site Co-ordinators CPF

!!! Another failed clutch
June 07, 2012 - Port Colborne - ADM Mill
Doug Garbutt Reports:

I’m sad to report that we have had another loss of eggs. I did not witness what happened to them but on May 26th full incubation was under way. On May 27th, all 3 eggs were gone. In my last post I reported that there was an intruding falcon on site. Perhaps this had something to do with the situation. It’s discouraging to go through but we are dealing with nature here and it’s out of our control. The falcons are still around but I think it’s unlikely there will be a 3rd attempt at laying eggs.

King Street first day fledge watch
-
Zoe Berger Reports:

Before I left home I was pretty sure I had witnessed a fledge on the webcam around 7:35 am or so. I got downtown a bit after 8 am and it took awhile but I finally found the fledgling on the low Canada Press roof. For the second time in all my watching I was able to see the color band! It was not Grayor who we expected but the yellow Tristan! Neil came down around 10:30 and we watched him moving just a little bit around the roof. About 20 minutes after that Neil was starting to ask me “is that a pigeon� as I stood up and shrieked “he’s off!�. I ran down to King St since he seemed to fly south and Neil stayed there at Court St. An adult came in and the usual flurry of activity showed Tristan did not make it to King Street but stayed within that small roofed area and went out of sight. Annie showed up after 11 and we did not see Tristan again. We left the site unattended at 4:30. Paul and Neil will be down later this evening. The three on the ledge did a lot of flapping and a lot of napping.

Not Much Activity
June 08, 2012 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Harry Crawford Reports:

Morning Shift:  There wasn’t much activity until 9am when two of
the youngsters started to flap their wings.  The male faced out
and the female ran back and forth in the back of the ledge.  This
happened about three times.  The other two didn’t do much of
anything.  They really don’t seem quite ready, barring an accident.
An adult visited around 11am but didn’t take any food in.  One
adult spent a lot of time on the north-east corner of 130 Adelaide E.

they grow up way too fast. Is that Quest watching?

Yup, that's her new spot when they are out!