Reflection to protection: Good design can save birds

Amber Jansson and Eryn Pierce at the Library! at Cole & Ustick event celebrating the installation of bird-safe decals on the library's large windows. Jansson designed the decals as part of a Service-Learning class taught by Pierce. Photo by Luan Teed

A collaboration among Boise State's School of the Arts, the Intermountain Bird Observatory and the city of Boise represents a promising step toward cutting down on bird deaths from window strikes.

A special ribbon-cutting event on Dec. 10 celebrated the installation of bird-safe decals on the windows at the Library! at Cole & Ustick. Amber Jansson, a senior graphic design student, designed the decals as part of a Service-Learning course, ART 420: Applied Projects in Graphic Design, taught by Assistant Professor Eryn Pierce. Professor Brian Wiley installed the decals, making this a true Boise State team effort.

The problem of birds colliding with windows is profound - and it's an issue cities, universities and communities should not ignore. Wild birds already face steep challenges, from habitat loss and climate change to domestic cats, pesticides and plastic pollution, but one of the deadliest threats is window strikes. The American Bird Conservancy estimates that up to one billion birds die this way each year in the U.S. and Canada. The large number often surprises casual observers who may come across a bird lying on a sidewalk. According to Audubon, the numbers are even more unsettling: For every bird found after a collision, three more likely die out of sight, either flying off before falling or becoming prey.

Birds don't recognize glass as a barrier. Reflections can mimic open sky or another bird, and nighttime interior lights can disorient them, especially during migration. Research has found that strategically designed decals applied to windows - high-contrast designs with close spacing, dots that are at least 1/4″ in diameter, spaced no more than 2 to 4 inches apart, for example - keep birds from flying into them.

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, to Jansson's left, attended the ribbon-cutting, along with other university and city officials. Photo by Luan Teed

The classroom and beyond

Building a bridge between art, science and community has always been one of her goals, Pierce said. Her undergraduate degree at Bowling Green State University was in biology. Her current work looks at how augmented reality can reconnect people to nature.

Students in her course began with research: reading literature, observing birds on campus and studying how they interact with the built environment. Pierce welcomed guest speakers who draw inspiration from nature. A visit from raptor rehabilitator Monte Tish and his golden eagle, Slim, provided a tangible reminder of the creatures who benefit from thoughtful design. Students also participated in the Venture College's annual Scrap to Sculpture Challenge, using donated building materials - the same types that pose hazards to birds - to create advocacy pieces.

Pierce's students experimented with decals on the windows of the Center for Visual Arts. Photo by Priscilla Grover

Pierce looked for ways to apply the students' work to real-world environments to make a difference for birds. She and Heidi Ware-Carlisle, education director at the Intermountain Bird Observatory, pitched the idea for bird-safe decals to the city. The city supported the project financially.

Amber Jansson and Eryn Pierce working on the vinyl decals in the studio on campus. Photo by Luan Teed

"Change can happen incrementally, but you can also be the change and do the work," Pierce said. "We are willing to give our time and energy to save birds and to create something that educates the public. Windows are inherently easy to ignore. They are meant to be invisible. But this work brings visibility to the problem."

Jansson, who now has an impressive accomplishment on her design résumé - along with a competitive internship at the advertising firm Drake Cooper and a stint as a graphic designer for The Arbiter - grew up in Star and Middleton, Idaho. Elementary school field trips to the World Center for Birds of Prey instilled her love of birds, she said. "But I never expected I would be in the position to help them. This project has opened my eyes to all that design can do."

Amber Jansson in the studio. Photo by Luan Teed

Where the vinyl meets the glass

After the task of finding a contractor to install the bird-safe decals proved difficult, Professor Brian Wiley, who teaches graphic design, user experience and user interface design, stepped up to help. He single-handedly installed Jansson's designs at the library as Pierce and Jansson cut vinyl.

Wiley got his start in graphic design through a traditional sign-painting apprenticeship in Oregon when he was 17. "Technology was changing pretty rapidly at that point, so while I began with brush painting, things quickly transitioned into vinyl-plotted graphics and eventually digital printing," Wiley said. He kept his job while earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon in multimedia design. After graduation, he did architectural and environmental graphics in Portland for five years before going to graduate school at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where his thesis work centered on community engagement through design.

"The bird-strike vinyl was the first job that I've done in quite some time-maybe 15 years or more," Wiley said. "Eryn and her class did a tremendous amount of work, so I was really happy that I could play a small role in the project and help to get it across the finish line."

Professor Brian Wiley during the library installation. Photo by Priscilla Grover

Pierce's avian advocacy expands

Pierce is taking her bird-safe window advocacy into the community - and into elementary schools with support from a Boise State Community-Engaged Public Scholarship Initiative grant. She will partner with the Intermountain Bird Observatory, Basin Elementary School in Idaho City and Boise public libraries. Students will create bird-safe window designs for their classrooms, while the libraries will host workshops for families and community members and display completed installations.

As Pierce wrote in her grant application, "This initiative transforms conservation into a visible, community-driven act of public art. It makes research participatory and inclusive, empowering children and residents to take tangible steps toward protecting wildlife."

How a good idea grows: Concern for birds has a long history on campus

Ware-Carlisle has studied the issue of bird fatalities from window collisions since 2015. She has not been alone in her concern.

In 2023, Kirsten Furlong, a lecturer in the Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies and director of the Blue Galleries, noticed fallen birds - including a grasshopper sparrow, red-breasted nuthatches and black-capped chickadees - outside the Center for the Visual Arts. Furlong, whose studio practice and research interests relate to the conservation of birds and other species, contacted Ware-Carlisle. This led to the creation of a Vertically Integrated Project, or VIP, a program that gives students hands-on experience by placing them on long-term, faculty-led projects with teammates from different majors.

Work by artist and faculty member Kirsten Furlong.

A VIP team led by Ware-Carlisle and alum Mariah Hoel (BS, biology, 2024) began surveying bird deaths on campus. Soon, Furlong wanted to engage student artists in the project. In spring 2024, she introduced Ware-Carlisle and Hoel to Pierce, and the bird advocacy team expanded. The team had initially hoped to install bird-safe decals on the windows of the Center for Visual Arts, where Furlong had found birds. Unfortunately, that effort did not get the green light.

Still, Ware-Carlisle hopes bird-strike surveys will continue to identify the most problematic windows on campus and inspire a commitment to make them bird-safe. A stronger advocacy for this pressing conservation cause - with a clear, proven solution - is a chance for Boise State to set an example and to lead other institutions and communities.

Heidi Ware-Carlisle at the library celebration. Photo by Luan Teed

"We hope that having the raw numbers from our own campus will be a call to action," Ware-Carlisle said.

The Intermountain Bird Observatory Window Strike Survey VIP will continue during the spring 2026 semester. Find more information on the VIP website.

Find a fallen bird? Report it: See survey results and find out how you can help on the Intermountain Bird Observatory website.

• By Anna Webb

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