Birds have nearly stopped colliding into the McCormick Place Lakeside Center.
Since bird-safe film was installed on the building’s windows last summer, collisions into the mostly glass structure are down over 95% during the recent fall migration compared with previous seasons, the Field Museum said.
The news is a victory for birds, bird advocates and McCormick Place. The building is Chicago’s easternmost structure on the lakefront, sitting squarely along one of the region’s busiest migratory pathways for birds.
It’s tough for birds to see a glass surface as a solid object. They also rely on the moon and stars to travel, and bright lights from glass structures at night throw off their navigation. Pulled toward the light, they often can’t perceive the glass and think they can fly straight through.
During each migration, hundreds of birds have crashed into the building’s glass facade and died. And for years advocates have called for protections to be added to McCormick Place and Chicago’s other glass buildings.
One night during the fall migration in 2023 was especially deadly: about 1,000 birds flew into the lakefront building and died. That drew widespread attention and outrage to the threat the building posed to birds. And the building’s owner sprang into action.
“It was just so devastating,” Larita Clark, chief executive of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, told the Sun-Times on Wednesday at McCormick Place.
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Within days, the authority committed to closing drapes overnight to shut out any light and turned off unnecessary outside lights.
The authority also began seeking a longer-term solution. That’s when it learned about Feather Friendly, a company that makes and installs bird-safe window film.
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Over three months, the company installed the polka-dot film on McCormick Place’s 120,000 square feet of glass, Feather Friendly vice president Paul Groleau told the Sun-Times.
“We were glad we got it done right in time for fall migration, and it turned out better than we expected,” Clark said.
The dots on the film only cover about 6% to 8% of the surface, but it’s enough to signal to birds that a solid structure lies ahead, Groleau said.
“The only way you’ll eliminate strikes entirely is if you remove all the glass in this building,” Groleau said. “But to reduce it by 95% is pretty dramatic. And when you start extrapolating that over all the years and extrapolate it over all the buildings in Chicago if they were also treated, those are massive numbers.”
The dots don’t obstruct light or the view out, and they can’t be seen from across the room. The film is also built to last. In the 18 years since Feather Friendly has been in business, it’s never had to replace a client’s window treatment, Groleau said.
“This facility will continue to save birds for years and years and years, and that adds up,” Groleau said. “And it’s not just about saving the birds. Birds add so much to the ecosystem and the overall biodiversity. It’s just like bees. If bees are extinct, we’re extinct. It’s the same with birds.”
Since installing the film at McCormick Place, Feather Friendly has lined up nine more projects in Chicago.
“A lot of people called us and said, ‘Can we get what McCormick got?’” Groleau said.
After taking flak following the deadly mass strike in 2023, McCormick Place has since set an example for how other glass buildings should be doing their part to protect birds, he said.
“There are several buildings in Chicago that are just as bad or even worse than McCormick,” he said. McCormick Place is “a leader in Chicago, showing what can be done and what the results are.”
McCormick Place also partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service following the deadly strike. Martha Williams, the service’s director, toured the building Wednesday. Bird conservation has been a major focus during her tenure.
“We worry about birds, and we worry about losing billions of birds each year,” Williams said. “It’s worth trying to address these bird collisions because it can make a difference. And it’s not intrusive, it’s not that expensive. It’s just very doable.”
