State of Maine Releases Guidelines for Bird Safe Architecture

State Releases Guidelines for Bird Safe Architecture

Compliance with Voluntary Guidelines Will Help Reduce Bird / Glass Collisions in Maine

AUGUSTA – Today the State of Maine’s Bureau of General Services (BGS) released final guidelines for incorporating bird-safe principles in publicly-funded buildings in Maine. The result of a law passed in 2023, the guidelines were developed in collaboration with Maine Audubon, the University of Southern Maine, Simons Architects, and other local architects, builders, and issue experts.

Maine is just one of four states in the nation to take statewide action on bird-glass collisions, a problem that kills more than a billion American birds each year. Glass windows trick birds by either reflecting sky and habitat or by appearing invisible. Volunteers have spent more than five years monitoring for bird strikes statewide, and have received hundreds of reports, confirming that action was warranted.

The final guidelines give Maine architects and builders simple strategies to incorporate bird-safe strategies into publicly-funded buildings, including schools. Guidelines include tips on architectural features to avoid; which kinds of windows are safer than others; and how to incorporate bird safe principles early on in the planning process. The full list of guidelines is available on the BGS website (www.maine.gov/dafs/bgs/forms).

“The Bureau of General Services ‘leads by example’ by incorporating sustainability into state facility design and construction,” said Elaine Clark, Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the state’s Department of Administrative and Financial Services, which includes the BGS. “We are proud to be a leader in the development and implementation of bird safe principles that will reduce the risk of bird collisions with public buildings around the state.”

“The silver lining to the window collision problem is that it is easily within our ability to fix,” said Maine Audubon’s Nick Lund, who co-founded BirdSafe Maine, a partnership to understand and address window collisions in Maine. “There are lots of strategies and products in the market to ensure that buildings can be built to protect birds without costing more.”

View or download the full Bird Safe Building Guidelines here.

View or download a one-page summary of the Bird Safe Building Guidelines here.