Bird-friendly solutions being provided worldwide have been studied utilizing various testing methods and judged based upon a set of evolving common rules. Bird-friendly standards and regulations developed from the growing body of scientific knowledge have resulted in increasingly clearer criteria in the desire to reduce bird collisions and fatalities. Non-standardized testing that was originally developed to simply understand bird perception has been inappropriately leveraged to promulgate judgements that they were not designed to render. Authorities and specialists have shared increasingly more restrictive parameters and conclusions based upon incomplete science and subjective interpretations of flawed research.
This paper will discuss the limitations of bird-friendly science, review the research, dispel the myths, and reveal the realities of glazing configurations. The 2 x 4 rule and 2 x 2 rules will be presented along with a discussion of the studies that helped form these guidelines. Visible marker size, shapes, and colors will be presented. The illusion of surface reflectivity and specular image reflections from glass will be parsed. Various testing methodologies and the changes that have occurred over the years will be analyzed and objectively evaluated. Rocks will be thrown, and new authoritative knowledge considered.
