I think most people have heard that sickening thump of a bird flying into a window or door at least once in our lives. This happens because the glass reflects the sky and clouds, as well as foliage nearby and appears as open areas to fly through. And, because windows from homes and businesses are so numerous, their toll on birds is huge. Up to about 1 billion birds die from window strikes in the U.S. each year, according to a 2022 study.

The good news is that this danger can be reduced greatly with some simple solutions, according to the Bird Collisions Program of the American Bird Conservancy. The Fatal Light Awareness Program also offers great information on preventing bird collisions.

There are two main types of window collisions: daytime and nighttime. In daylight, birds crash into windows because they see reflections of vegetation or see through the glass to potted plants or vegetation on the other side. At night, nocturnal migrants (including most songbirds) crash because they fly into lighted windows.

For reasons not entirely understood, lights confuse these nocturnal migrants from their original path, especially in foggy conditions. In the lighted area, they become disoriented flying into one another or into the lighted buildings. Confused birds are vulnerable to daytime reflections in windows the following day.

I have a large picture window in my living room and the first time I heard a thump, I knew I had to do something to prevent this from happening. I went outside and looked at the window from a bird’s point of view. To my amazement, I realized I was part of problem because leaves, branches and sky were reflecting perfectly.

One of the easiest ways to prevent window strikes is something we did here at work. We took a bar of white soap drew a grid pattern of 2 inches by 2 inches on the windows by our outside feeders. It doesn’t matter what the pattern is — grids or wavy lines or even circles as long as it looks like an unsafe passage way.

Other ideas include suncatchers, mylar stripes, masking tape, hawk or owl silohettes, stickers, and sticky notes on the windows. All of these ideas are equally effective but they have to be placed roughly two inches apart. The spacing is important so it looks too small for birds to fly through.

There are lots of options online in the form of tape products offering an easy way to apply the correct spacing. Something called “Zen curtains” are cords that hang down over the windows. They do exactly the same thing as all the other methods, are easy to install and they are an aesthetically pleasing “vibe” instead of marking the actual windows.

One-way transparent film products such as Collidescape permit people on the inside to see out, but makes the window appear opaque on the outside.

Here’s something I did not know — any measures you decide to use have to be on the outside of the glass in order for the reflections to be minimized and for your efforts to be effective. This can be a hassle but in the end, the lives saved is worth a little inconvenience.

Window strikes will stun a bird temporarily. After a bird strikes a window, place a box over it and let it rest for about half an hour. Often all that is required is a little quiet time to recover. After that amount of time, lift the box off the bird to give it a chance to fly off. If it does not, place the bird in the box and close it to give it a dark, quiet place to rest. Do not offer food and water once it’s in the box.

For more information, visit https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/bird-collision-reduction-toolkits

Jeannie Carl is a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill. For information on the Carbon County Environmental Center, visit www.carboneec.org.