How To Keep Birds From Hitting Your Windows
Every year millions of birds collide with windows. Here’s how you can help.
Brett Tryon
Updated
April 7, 2021
Caption: A male common yellowthroat, the bird whose death from a collision with a window inspired Michael Mesure to co-found an organization fighting bird deaths from window strikes.
It was 1990 and Michael Mesure was en route to a wildlife rehabilitation centre. One of his many passengers was a common yellowthroat, a tiny black and yellow warbler that had crashed into a window. As Mesure was driving, the bird escaped from its paper bag and perched on the rearview mirror. What happened next was even more astonishing: the bird began to sing. Mesure was enchanted. The yellowthroat continued to serenade him until the very moment it collapsed into his lap, dead.