>Hi Dennis,
>
>Has anyone looked at the tremendous toll of birds in cities because of the
>increased used of glass for patios, balconies etc? on houses and apt bldgs?
>Got a feeling this is another huge toll that has crept up on us.
>M. Price
>michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca

Yes, there's getting to be a body of literature about window kills. I
believe the most recent estimate is something like 1-10
birds/year/building, leading to a staggering estimate of 100 million to 1
billion birds per year killed by window strikes in the U.S. alone; I
imagine a few birds hit windows in Canada too. It's a huge toll, and it
probably occurs more in the countryside--where there are a lot more
birds--than in the cities. One estimate of bird populations in the U.S. is
20 billion, so this represents a more-than-trivial source of mortality. The
reference is in Journal of Field Ornithology 64: 302-309, 1993.

Dennis Paulson