Graduate students who hit the glass window and hurt their dying birds set up “Zen Curtain” to prevent the birds and windows from colliding


By

Thiago Matos

A graduate student at the University of Queensland in Australia who worried about birds colliding without seeing transparent windows and dying, set up a “ Zen Curtain ” to prevent birds from colliding with glass windows. This Zen curtain is 'effective'.

'Zen curtain' saves birds from hitting glass windows at University of Queensland-ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-28/the-curtain-saving-birds-from-hitting-glass-windows/11638774

Graduate student Adam Hines, a graduate student at the Brain Science Institute at the University of Queensland, discovers that there is a dead bird every day at the entrance to the laboratory. When Mr. Hines, who was wondering, investigated, it turned out that 4 or 5 birds hit the window of the Brain Science Institute every day. Below is an overview of the Brain Science Institute, University of Queensland. Large windows connected from the 1st floor to the 5th floor are provided on the side.



According to Hines, some birds survived by colliding with the glass windows, and some birds died. According to Hines's Twitter post, many dead birds were rolling on the street during the weekend.




Mr. Hynes continued to work to protect the surviving birds by taking them to the veterinarians, but he decided to take fundamental measures. According to the American Bird Conservation Society (ABC), the reason for birds colliding with the glass window is that the bird cannot recognize that there is a transparent glass window there. For this reason, ABC recommends that the glass window have a pattern such as a dot pattern or a rope pattern to “make the bird recognize that there is a glass window”.




However, it is recommended not to leave a gap of more than 2 inches long (about 5 cm) x 4 inches wide (about 10 cm) in the pattern so that the bird does not think that it can “pass through the gap”.



Based on this idea, Mr. Hynes installed “Zen Curtain” in the window of the Brain Science Institute. Zen curtain para encodes a durable string, such as, those suspended vertically at regular intervals. Here is the actual Zen curtain installed at the University of Queensland.




After the Zen Curtain was installed, Mr. Hynes received a report from the facility manager that he saw the bird make a U-turn and avoid collision with the glass. Hynes commented that 'Zen curtains were effective'.

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