Dr. Daniel Klem Jr, respected authority on Bird-Window Collisions at Muhlenberg College, will speak on –
Title: “The Effects of Glass in Buildings on Bird Mortality”
Where: Springbrook Nature Center in Fridley
Date: March 21st
Time: 6:30 pm
The presentation will address the U. S. Bank Stadium problem.
Abstract: In 1979, Dr. Daniel Klem, Jr, a young PhD student, finished his dissertation explaining the high mortality caused by sheet glass and how using a 2 x 4″ pattern on the glass could all but eliminate the problem. He is still trying to get the word out to the general population. Finally, companies are working on various methods to solve the problem, but nothing has changed, the 2 x 4″ rule still is the best solution.
Clear and reflective sheet glass in homes or entire walls of multistory commercial buildings, like the U. S. Bank Stadium, is a passive invisible killer of wild birds worldwide. Among the dead are the abundant as well as the rare, threatened, and endangered species. Investigators have gathered extensive evidence documenting sheet glass as a growing source of avian mortality, and a suspected contributor to overall bird population declines. Preventing these unintended fatalities will be addressed as well as preventive techniques, regulations addressing the installation of glass in buildings, and enforcement of existing legislation to protect wild birds as an aesthetic and environmentally valuable natural resource.
Biography: Dr Klem, Sarkis Acopian Professor of Ornithology and Conservation Biology at Muhlenberg College Allentown, PA has over 20 publications and is a well-known bird-window collision expert. Dr. Klem received his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL. His dissertation published in 1979 entitled “Biology of collisions between birds and windows” is on the vanguard of the topic. In his 1990 papers “Bird injuries, cause of death, and recuperation from collisions with windows” and “Collisions between birds and windows: mortality and prevention”, he calculated that between 100 million and 1 billion birds are killed, annually, in the United States alone, by flying into windows.
His research has influenced the design of buildings, for example the Niagara Falls State Park Observation Tower, on which he was a design consultant. He holds several US patents relating to windows design.
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This is the first of three presentations to be given as part of the Stadium Retrofit Committee’s effort to convince the MSFA to retrofit the U. S. Bank Stadium to make it bird safe. A $5 donation will be requested at the door to defray costs.
The Stadium Retrofit Committee is a coalition of the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis (ACM), Minnesota Citizens for the Protection of Migratory Birds (MCPMB) and the Friends of Roberts Bird Sanctuary (FRBS) as well as other bird loving concerned citizens, who are very disturbed by the mortality occurring at the U. S. Bank Stadium. Consequently the Retrofit Committee has embarked on an effort to gather information that will lead to viable recommendations to the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority to retrofit the stadium to make it Bird Friendly. In order to collect pertinent data on Bird-Glass collisions, the Retrofit Committee has invited two national bird collision experts to visit the Twin Cities in March and April to provide information to a Retrofit Committee Panel that after compiling pertinent facts about Bird-Glass Collisions will make recommendations to the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) on retrofitting the stadium to make it Bird Friendly.