Billions of birds die each year from collisions with windows and buildings. This preventable cause of mortality and suffering represents one of the largest human-caused harms to wild bird welfare.
Window and building collisions cause acute traumatic injury and death to billions of individual birds annually, making this one of the largest preventable sources of wild bird mortality. Surviving birds often suffer internal injuries, concussion, or wing damage that leaves them vulnerable to predation or slow death. The suffering this causes — at a scale that dwarfs many more visible wildlife welfare issues — happens largely invisibly, bird by bird, window by window. The solutions are practical and increasingly affordable: bird-friendly glass, lights-out programs, and simple window treatments can dramatically reduce collision rates. Individual action on home windows combined with advocacy for building standards creates both direct and systemic impact.