Just today I noticed an odd phenomenon in the department. The building my office is in has outer walls made almost entirely from glass and we border straight on to forest land.
Over the past couple of days at least half a dozen birds have smashed into the building (and then presumably fallen to their death). According to industrial ornithologist Richard Podinsky, this happens because:
So what I think is happening is that birds in the forest are getting startled and flying straight into our windows, because they reflect the image of the trees, giving the birds the illusion of more space.
Each collision leaves a bird shaped mark on the building, it really is just like a cartoon, except instead of the hulk smashing through a wall and leaving a hulk shaped hole, it's pigeons smashing into a window, which then shatters their neck.
I tried to get a picture of one of the marks earlier, but the bright sunlight stopped it from coming out properly.
It is very hard to see what I'm on about so here is a version with the bird shape highlighted. I'll get some pictures without the insane amount of reflections tomorrow because I do feel that our avian deathtrap deserves archiving.
So far a few of us have made suggestions about how to prevent this from happening in the future, from putting a model hawk on top of the building, to putting various stickers on the glass. My personal favourite idea though, is to never wash the department again
It is very sad, but at the same time the shapes the birds leave look so pathetic and amusing
late edit: When I form a thrash metal band it's going to be called "Avian Deathtrap"
Over the past couple of days at least half a dozen birds have smashed into the building (and then presumably fallen to their death). According to industrial ornithologist Richard Podinsky, this happens because:
"By day, birds see sky, clouds and trees reflected in glass facades and they 'think' that they can fly into it,"So what I think is happening is that birds in the forest are getting startled and flying straight into our windows, because they reflect the image of the trees, giving the birds the illusion of more space.
Each collision leaves a bird shaped mark on the building, it really is just like a cartoon, except instead of the hulk smashing through a wall and leaving a hulk shaped hole, it's pigeons smashing into a window, which then shatters their neck.
I tried to get a picture of one of the marks earlier, but the bright sunlight stopped it from coming out properly.
It is very hard to see what I'm on about so here is a version with the bird shape highlighted. I'll get some pictures without the insane amount of reflections tomorrow because I do feel that our avian deathtrap deserves archiving.
So far a few of us have made suggestions about how to prevent this from happening in the future, from putting a model hawk on top of the building, to putting various stickers on the glass. My personal favourite idea though, is to never wash the department again
It is very sad, but at the same time the shapes the birds leave look so pathetic and amusing
late edit: When I form a thrash metal band it's going to be called "Avian Deathtrap"
