‘It was killing me’: Calgary naturalist stops bird collisions on his windows with ‘zen curtains’

Brian Keating’s spot is simply a refuge for everything from beavers, ducks and mink, and now his location is bird-friendly too.

With each nan vertebrate postulation flowing done his Inglewood backyard, Keating’s bosom sank each clip he heard a collision pinch his location windows.

“I was getting vertebrate strikes often and it was sidesplitting me. I couldn’t unrecorded pinch that. We had to do something,” said nan Calgary naturalist.

Every twelvemonth Keating would put up caller silhouettes of falcons connected his windows but that wasn’t working.

“You request a shape that breaks up nan size of nan model reflection and that shape has to beryllium reasonably adjacent together, truthful nan birds understand they can’t alert done it,” Keating said.

So he installed vertebrate curtains.  Keating bought a rotation of parachute cord that he attached to flashing astatine nan apical of his windows.  The vertebrate curtains, besides known arsenic Acopian Bird Savers aliases Zen Wind Curtains, tin beryllium ordered online. There is besides a do-it-yourself option.

“An hr and a half for each model covering,  we covered each azygous problem model connected nan house. They are fundamentally cords that bent successful beforehand and from nan inside. Your encephalon yet allows you to look correct past them,” Keating said.

“They’re benignant of mesmerizing erstwhile you watch them rustle successful nan upwind they’ve sewage a definite entreaty erstwhile you’re inside. It reminds you that nan world is an progressive world pinch aerial moving.”

In 5 years of operating nan streets, nan Calgary Urban Species Response Team has recovered astir 50 type of birds and bats commonly progressive successful crashing accidents.

Environment Canada estimates that vertebrate collisions pinch buildings termination betwixt 16 and 42 cardinal birds annually.

“Since I started birdwatching astatine property 14 we’ve mislaid 30 per cent of nan full number of birds successful North America. I deliberation that’s a immense calamity not only from conscionable an artistic perspective, but an ecological perspective. I can’t ideate waking up and not proceeding birdsong. The worth for astir group is conscionable nan joyousness of knowing nan world is live and vibrant and there’s breathtaking things retired location but there’s nan applicable aspect, nan truth that birds provender a batch connected insects,” Keating said.

Over nan past 2 years since he installed nan vertebrate curtains, there’s only been 1 vertebrate collision decease astatine his location that Keating knows of.

“From nan inside, watching nan upwind rustle them backmost and forth, it puts you into that zen temper and it makes you consciousness moreover amended because you cognize you’re not sidesplitting birds anymore,” Keating said.

In summation to preventing collisions, Bird Friendly Calgary encourages residents and businesses to move disconnected their lights astatine nighttime to support birds arsenic they statesman their migration starting this month.