Bird's Eye View
Donate to Help Prevent Bird Window Collisions
The Baton Rouge Audubon Society is proud to sponsor visual artist Ellen Ogden in seeking donations for a mission to install bird collision prevention art on windows at the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library (EBRPL) on Goodwood as a prototype and education opportunity. The artistic design proposal will be funded in part by an Audubon Collaborative Grant (applied for by the artist with assistance by Jane Patterson) to support community-oriented approaches to conservation.
A frequent visitor and patron of the library, Ellen was initially shocked to observe a ruby-throated hummingbird lying next to her workstation outside the window circa ~2019. Since that initial impact, she has observed the demise of many beautiful specimens imparted by the reflective architecture, leading her to discover the dire statistics of annual bird building collisions (300 million-1 billion annually), and subsequently expand her awareness of the science of effective prevention. Only about 40% of birds survive collisions, making the estimate a difficult one to calculate as the specimens found on site do not represent the full fatalities. Phil Stouffer, Lee F. Mason Professor, School of Renewable Natural Resources has an ongoing survey of collision data from LSU facilities on iNaturalist, which Ellen will reference in her design to highlight the particular birds affected in our region.
As an artist and muralist, Ellen frequently works in architectural spaces, particularly windows. In fact, the purple martin window at this very library is one that she redesigned, selected glass, and built based on original design by LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Professor Emeritus Jon Emerson, as an apprentice with Stephen Wilson Stained Glass. A space between things: windows are not only a literal reflective space, but also a liminal figurative space to gaze, reflect, and teleport both within and without, and their capacity for bird harm is antithetical to this uplifting function. The ethos of Ellen’s personal commission work is to alchemize discordance like this: from apathy or despondency to contemplation, joy, and action.
As a site of education and public programming, the project at EBRPL is one that could inspire real change, to inspire retrofitting at other sites, and even policy that mandates protecting birds from collisions. Ellen has the artistic passion, skill, and craft to design and implement artwork, educational programming, flyers, and wall plaques with the Library’s approval. She is inspired to create something that highlights Baton Rouge as a site of not only the environmentally conscious, but also invites new birders into BRAS. With her experience in community engagement via public art, as a Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Communications at Loyola University, and experience as a graduate of Louisiana Master Naturalist of Greater Baton Rouge (LMNGBR) this project is the culmination of years of care, study, and love for our local ecology. If you are interested in resources and actionable steps to prevent collisions at your property, Ellen can send you a curated list of articles and products, or help you design something unique.
Please consider donating to this large scale potential for bird-collision prevention. The scale of the project will be subject to the amount of funding; a large scale project could run in the tens of thousands of dollars. It is hoped that this project could inspire others like it at sites around Baton Rouge.
The Baton Rouge Audubon Society is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and all donations are deductible on federal tax returns to the limits provided by law.