Consider the Birds: Making Congregational Windows Bird-safe

At St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids, visitors and members alike enter the building through our Welcome Center, a bright atrium with natural light and views of the neighborhood. We love this space, which was added to our historic building during a renovation in 2017. It reminds us that we are part of our urban residential neighborhood and the natural world that surrounds us.

But for some in our neighborhood, the windows were dangerous. 

Bird populations are under threat here in North America, with an estimated loss of 3 billion birds, since 1970. Human activity is the primary reason for this decline. Urban sprawl, deforestation, and increased intensive agriculture practices degrade the habitat birds need. Changes in weather patterns and precipitation due to the ongoing climate crisis harms bird migration and reproduction.

Knowing that I love birds, staff members, who had to pick up dead birds outside our windows, asked me if there was anything we could do to prevent these strikes.

Seeing a single dead bird right outside the church brings home these abstract-sounding facts. Our actions are needed to care for the creatures of this world, the world that God created and called good.

I had experienced window strikes by birds at my own home, which has three sliding glass doors that look out onto our backyard. I discovered that one solution is to apply a pattern of decals to the outside of windows, spaced about 2-4 inches apart. This will alert birds that there is a solid surface ahead that they need to avoid.

The trustees were on board with the decision to treat our windows, for which I was so grateful. Together, we found decals for the windows that we all liked, a pattern of small dots spaced two inches apart. They were almost imperceptible from the inside of the window, but would be visible to birds on the outside.

And these tiny dots are amazingly effective. McCormick Place on the Chicago lakefront treated windows with them. Window strikes there were reduced from almost one thousand a year to nearly zero.

The Sunday before the installation, I made an announcement at church about the installation.  After the service, I set up a table out in the Welcome Center. I had a sample window with window decals that they could see up close. I also explained the process to members and visitors. Many took home information about making windows bird safe at their own homes.

At my table, I also invited people to celebrate the decision to consider the birds by making a simple origami bird to add to a display. 

For such a huge project, we needed professional installation. We hired our window washers to install the decals. They had installed window treatments like this before, so we scheduled them to wash our windows and then install the decals in early spring, before bird migration season.  

We had hoped to have the window treatments all finished before St. Paul’s UMC hosted the Iowa Faith and Climate Network Conference in late March 2026. However, due to Midwest weather, the process was only halfway done when the conference began. So conference participants got to see what the installation process looked like!

Once the window treatment process was finished, many church members told me that they were glad to know that birds are now safe around our building. Everyone likes still being able to see through the windows to our neighborhood.

We finished our celebration by inviting Iowa poet and artist Ted Lyddon Hatten to give a sermon and install an art exhibit in our Upper Room Art Gallery. His art installation, called “An Ornitheology—the Theopoetics of Ted Lyddon Hatten” commemorated the death of a sparrow, and gives viewers space to reflect on the worth God assigns to all living things. 

Does your home or place of worship have windows that are dangerous to birds? Perhaps you would also like to consider the birds and their safety by treating your windows. It’s a way to show care for creation with a simple change to the buildings where you live or worship.

Here’s an informative article and useful resources about birds and windows by the National Audubon Society. 

I found this handout to be very helpful as I educated the congregation.