The Future of Bird-Friendly Architecture is Clear...

Researchers estimate that hundreds of millions of birds are killed each year in North America due to collisions with glass on human-built structures, making bird collisions one of the most significant causes of avian mortality globally.

It is the reflective and transparent characteristics of glass that create the danger for birds, as they cannot see it as a barrier. They fly to sky and trees reflected by or on the other side of a window or railing and collide fatally with the glass. To prevent these collisions, glass must somehow be made visible to birds.

With the understanding that birds are able to see light in the ultraviolet spectrum, bird-friendly glass innovator, ARNOLD GLAS developed ORNILUX Bird Protection Glass. The glass has a patterned, UV reflective coating making it visible to birds while remaining virtually transparent to the human eye.

ORNILUX: The transparent solution

A proven bird-friendly glazing treatment, ORNILUX is tested in cooperation with American Bird Conservancy. The glass has demonstrated to be an effective solution to mitigate bird collisions, especially in areas where transparency is a top priority.

ORNILUX, the leading multi-functional clear glass solution to bird collisions is available as laminated glass or insulated units paired with Arnold Glas low-E or solar control coatings, thus providing energy efficiency and bird strike protection.

ORNILUX offers a unique and innovative bird-friendly glass solution—maintaining the aesthetic transparency of glass while creating visual markers alerting birds to a barrier.

American Bird Conservancy tested this product in a tunnel test and found that it satisfied ABC’s criterion for bird-friendly glass, where a minimum of 70% of birds avoided the product and flew towards the control pane. See product brochure for additional information and actual test scores.