Graphic by Audrey Hanan ‘28
By Angel Fox FP ’26
Staff Writer
The past year brought Mount Holyoke College some difficult campus departures—first with Dwight Hall's 120-year old copper beech tree in July, and again with the loss of beloved unofficial mascot, Jorge the goose. In a tragic accident, the pilgrim goose — a critically endangered species — died on Dec. 9, 2024 in front of staff and students after flying into a Blanchard Hall window.
When Jorge died, a College employee arrived quickly on the scene and carried Jorge away. In a Q&A by Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Karla Youngblood FP ’99, it was announced that Jorge will not be replaced. When contacted by Mount Holyoke News, a representative for the College declined to comment on Jorge any further than the Q&A by Youngblood. Mount Holyoke News was unable to confirm if there are any future campus bird strike prevention plans by the College, or what happened to Jorge’s body. While the exact cause of Jorge’s window collision is unknown, bird flu should not be considered as a possible cause for bird strikes.
While it can be difficult for some to understand the necessity of protecting birds, as some species are environmentally invasive, preserving the health of the local environment has been historically important on campus.
Since Jorge’s death, some students have begun discussing how to make the College’s campus safer for the bird species that inhabit it. A student created a petition on Change.org entitled “Protect our Feathered Friends, Protect our Biodiversity” that calls on the College to continue to promote a campus that is safe for all animals, including by working on preventing bird collisions. In addition, the student-run MHC Animal Welfare Association is planning a hall event for 1837 Hall residents to apply bird-safe tape on their windows. The group is also collecting data on campus bird strikes.
Bird strikes: prevention possible & necessary
The bird-window collision issue has larger implications beyond affecting just a few birds each year. In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, John Herbert, Director of Bird Conservation at Mass Audubon, stated that “Birds colliding into structures and buildings is a major conservation issue globally, and especially here in the United States.”
“Some recent studies have estimated that up to 1 billion birds each year in the U.S. are killed through window strikes,” Herbert said. “A trend in many species that we have here in North America is they're declining, and window collisions are a significant piece to that puzzle.”
With such staggering numbers, bird mortality has massive implications on local ecosystems. Losing one species can impact multiple, if not hundreds, of species up and down the food chain, including many plants that rely on bird droppings for distribution. Window collisions are one of the leading direct human causes of bird mortality in the U.S. Massachusetts hosts more than 300 species of birds each year, and in migratory species these deaths may cause population decline in other regions.
The Save a Billion Birds campaign through the Zoological Lighting Institute is working towards creating bird-friendly buildings with donation based tax deductions. Their Executive Director, James Karl Fischer, said in a recent interview with Mount Holyoke News that “the easiest thing that a campus could do would really be to either provide, or encourage, the use of external markers or screens on windows.”
“Treatments are actually pretty inexpensive,” Fischer said. “And there's really a couple of ways to deal with it. The main being screening glass … If there's exposed glass, it needs to be removed from the birds, so to speak. So the way you do that is by putting an external film, something like Feather Friendly or Bird Divert, or commonly available products.”
While aesthetics, cost, or the labor involved in making windows bird friendly could pose a challenge, there are solutions that do not disrupt appearances. Bird Divert, clear exterior UV markers recognized by the American Bird Conservancy and Audubon Society, are nearly invisible to humans but a beacon to birds who are able to see UV light. However, not all birds can see UV. There are alternative window protection products and a solutions database with threat ratings on various materials on the American Bird Conservancy website.
Birds collide with reflective surfaces due to the way they see, according to the American Bird Conservancy. They crash because windows reflect the sky and landscape, causing them to perceive reflections as literal objects. They collide into the glass at the high speed of flight and suffer both violent injuries and death as a result. Many can fly after collisions but suffer internal hemorrhages, concussions or damage to their bills, wings, eyes or skulls, which make them more susceptible to predators and environmental dangers. Collisions can occur throughout the year, mostly during the day, but also occasionally at night, especially for migrating birds. Half of all bird collisions occur in suburban areas on the lower levels of buildings. Structures over eleven stories only account for 0.1% of collisions. Since the Mount Holyoke College campus resides in a forested suburb, with most of its buildings under 11 stories, structures on campus are likely candidates for bird strikes.
Fischer mentioned window stickers as a low-cost and effective solution.
“From a practical standpoint, fixing the buildings is actually very easy and inexpensive,” Fischer said. “You're talking maybe in the thousands of dollars, as opposed to, the millions of dollars that a new building would cost, or even an older building would cost to maintain. It's pretty cheap.”
Students rally around campus bird protection
Members of the student-led Animal Welfare Association — also known as the AWA —have been working to solve the window collision issue since last semester. Their stated mission is to “raise awareness of animal rights and to encourage the humane treatment of all animals through volunteer work supporting local shelters or sanctuaries and promoting the rights of animals on campus.”
In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, AWA Contact Person Ally Facella ’25 said, “Last semester, there was a concern that was brought up that people have been seeing bird strikes on campus … It's always been an issue because we have a big campus with a lot of windows.”
“So, last semester, we were working with the Miller Worley Center to try and come up with a plan to deal with this issue,” Facella said. “Our members have been researching solutions … without intensive cleaning or maintenance for windows and buildings, particularly 1837.”
“At the end of the semester, right after Jorge died, we sent a Google Form to our members, and that was just for collecting data on whether people have seen this issue on campus where they've seen it, if it happens at a particular season in a particular building,” she said.
If students find a sick or downed bird on campus, state regulations stipulate they must not be handled. Per the Mass Audubon website, “Most birds are protected by federal laws under the ‘Migratory Bird Act of 1918,’ as well as by Massachusetts state laws. It is illegal to destroy, relocate or possess wild birds, their nests, or their eggs.”
How can students help prevent bird strikes?
Students can help protect birds by closing blinds when not in dorms, participating in hall events dedicated to window bird strike prevention, reporting downed birds and locations to AWA or participating in Audubon’s “Lights Out” program for night migrating birds. Lights on at night or during storms or fog can disrupt a bird’s navigation, exhausting them as they call out for one another, leaving them more susceptible to predators. During foggy or stormy nights, spring migration between Mar. 1-June 15 and in fall migration between Aug. 15-Nov. 30, turn off dorm room lights when possible and close curtains at night.
Mount Holyoke College community members can inform themselves and advocate for avian life. For example, one can conduct research on websites such as Mass Audubon and Mass Wildlife to find local birding hotspots and sanctuaries, learn more about local birds, join a weekly bird walk and learn more about birding. Additionally, students and their animals should avoid going near sick or dead birds and bird droppings, and can report birds suspected of bird flu, or dead birds in groups of five or more, on campus to Public Safety and Services.
Birding is an activity on campus that can be great for both physical and mental health. Birders can participate in citizen science projects with apps like Merlin and EBird where they can identify birds, learn their calls, keep track of their birding lists, find local campus hotspots and report sightings.
Not sure where to start? According to Herbert, “Start going outside and looking for birds.”
“If you're brand new to it, just going out and being part of nature ... you may not be a scientist, you may not be a super nature enthusiast, but getting outside, being more in tune with nature does have health benefits. So at any level, I recommend being outside and looking at the trees, looking at the birds.”
Karishma Ramkarran ’27 contributed fact-checking.