Window area and development drive spatial variation in bird-window collisions in an urban landscape.

ABSTRACT: Collisions with windows are an important human-related threat to birds in urban landscapes. However, the proximate drivers of collisions are not well understood, and no study has examined spatial variation in mortality in an urban setting. We hypothesized that the number of fatalities at buildings varies with window area and habitat features that influence avian community structure. In 2010 we documented bird-window collisions (BWCs) and characterized avian community structure at 20 buildings in an urban landscape in northwestern Illinois, USA. For each building and season, we conducted 21 daily surveys for carcasses and nine point count surveys to estimate relative abundance, richness, and diversity. Our sampling design was informed by experimentally estimated carcass persistence times an

SUBMITTER: Hager SB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3541239 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature