Glass might look harmless to us, but to birds, it can be deadly. That’s why this month fifth graders at Fairmount School in Bangor have taken action to make their communities safer for migratory birds.
Ms. Heath’s 5th grade class from Fairmount School visited the Collins Center for the Arts at the University of Maine earlier in May to install their hand-drawn BirdSafe window decals. Ms. Donahue’s 5th graders followed their lead, placing decals at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
These installations mark the culmination of a two-year environmental education partnership between Maine Audubon and the Bangor School Department, made possible through a generous grant from NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program. Over the school year, students explored real-world environmental challenges facing Maine wildlife—and learned how they could take action in their own communities.
For their final community science project, both classrooms chose to address a serious but often overlooked issue: bird–window collisions. Glass strikes are the second leading cause of death for migratory birds in North America, killing an estimated 388 to 988 million birds each year. All windows pose a threat to birds, but large buildings with expansive glass surfaces are particularly dangerous, as windows reflect sky and foliage or become invisible when illuminated from within—making them deadly traps for birds in flight.
To help prevent these collisions, students drew and installed temporary window decals that break up reflections and alert the birds to the presence of glass—a simple but effective solution they discovered through Maine Audubon’s BirdSafe Maine initiative.
It’s heartening to see local institutions open their doors (and windows!) to a project that both safeguards wildlife and turns public spaces into canvases for student artwork. This is one of many community science projects that Bangor’s 5th grade classrooms are completing throughout the region! You can stay up-to-date on more Penobscot Classrooms final projects here.
Interested in making your windows safer for birds? Learn more at BirdSafe Maine.
