Measures for more bird protection

Four six-storey buildings tower majestically above the Neutraubling skyline, creating a striking impression of Krones’s headquarters. Its impressive glass façades, however, present an unintended challenge for the local bird population: They are causing ever more birds to fly into the window panes, crash down and, unfortunately, die. Following a passionate campaign by committed staff, a solution to this problem has now been found.

It’s a prime example of how perseverance pays off: On Viva Engage, the Group-wide internal communication platform, the problem of bird strikes on the Neutraubling site, or to be more specific the glazed high-rises, was the subject of intense debate among many employees. That was because birds were constantly dying after crashing into the glass windows. Minds turned to how this problem could be prevented in the future – and a range of ingenious suggestions were put together. The lively discussions then moved out of the online world and into the real one, with the Krones Construction department joining the efforts to find a solution and arranging a meeting with the regional bird and nature conservation society, the LBV, to work out what do to in the first instance. They carried out an inspection of the site in Neutraubling together and discussed a variety of measures that could be implemented in order to reduce the number of bird strikes on the glass windows, or even eliminate them entirely.

Slats and films for bird protection

Searching for solutions, Krones decided to make clever use of the existing external roller blinds to help protect the birds. One of the main problems, after all, is that trees and bushes are reflected in the panes of glass. This confuses birds, which mistakenly think they are real trees rather than reflections – and that in turn causes them to crash into the glass. To counteract this, the external Venetian blinds for the offices were reprogrammed: From 1 April to 30 September, those in the courtyard and on the outside of the south, west and north-facing sides of the four glass buildings will automatically descend in the early morning hours and in the late afternoon. With the slats positioned horizontally, birds can now better distinguish between reflections and actual trees. Another bonus is that they also make the light in the offices a little darker and more pleasant.

Bild 1 — Modern architecture meets bird protection: The transverse blinds of the glazed high-rises prevent reflections, thereby reducing the danger of bird strikes.

In addition, special bird protection films are being applied to the window frontages of stairwells and on buildings with no external Venetian blinds. This is a highly effective way of making large areas of glazing visible to all species of bird. Thanks to their simple and discreet design, moreover, they do not detract from the visual appearance.
The measures taken have already led to a significant reduction in bird-strike accidents, with other measures in the planning stage as well. Employees report that the number of birds injured or killed – and hence collisions with the windows – has already fallen since March.

Article 40616 — Innovative dot films make the windows visible to birds.

Bird protection at home

There are many myths around the issue of “bird protection”. Here are some facts and ways of protecting birds around your own home:

Make windows visible: Bright curtains or fly screens can help to make windows visible to birds.
Reduce lighting: Less lighting inside and outside buildings reduces the risk of collision and helps birds not get confused.
Put bird feeders in the right place: Bird feeders should be located at least four to five metres away from windows.
Identify hazardous window panes: If a bird has already flown into a window once, in the majority of cases this will happen again if no measures are taken to protect birds.