Effects of university buildings on migratory bird populations
This fall, Martina Drew (BS Biology) worked with Drs. Pitt and Corbin to lead a team of researchers to document the number of bird
mortality events due to collisions into campus building windows.
Student researchers including graduate students Alan Belles, Linda Tucker
Serniak, and Jamie Shinskie, and undergraduate students Kent Cooper and
Gabrielle Byzcek gained experience surveying for birds and evidence of
bird-window collisions. This research is part of an international effort to
assess the effects of college and university campuses on migratory bird populations and is being conducted in collaboration with researchers
from an extensive network of colleges and universities throughout North America
as part of the larger Ecological Research as Education Network Bird-window Collision Project (https://sites.google.com/a/augustana.edu/eren-bird-window-collisions-project/home). In
addition to participating in the international, collaborative research project,
the researchers will also evaluate the effects of
Bloomsburg University buildings on migratory bird
populations in order to provide data that can lead to making campus buildings more bird-friendly.