« Brooklyn Bridge Park: Don't Write It Off Yet LPC to Consider Ocean Avenue Historic District »

February 2, 2009

Man Versus Bird On Prospect Park

On-Prospect-Park-0209.jpg
Richard Meier's On Prospect Park may have been a welcome addition to the neighborhood for modern architecture buffs and the moneyed set who could pony up a million bucks for a one-bedroom apartment, but it hasn't been such good news for the birds who call the park home. "An all-glass building adjacent to the park is a deathtrap for birds," said Glenn Phillips, executive director of NYC Audubon. "The design is a set-up. It's putting huge, uninterrupted, solid panes of glass adjacent to a landscape, and that's a recipe for disaster." Then again, in the wake of the Flight 1549 disaster, there have been reports that the bird population is too great, though we doubt it's Canadian geese that are meeting their maker on the plate-glass walls.
On Prospect Park a Bird Killer [NY Post]
Photo by j.morefield




Posted by Brownstoner at 9:43 AM | Comments (18)
Categories: Condos, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Quality of Life

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/8223

Comments

This could have been avoided. There is glass available that is visible to birds and averts these avian deaths. I don't imagine that such considerations are important though, when you're chief concern is "architecture as art" [and fleecing those dumb enough to consider this bland box in that category].

Posted by: Bob Marvin at February 2, 2009 10:33 AM

So, have any actual bird-deaths-by-window-crash been confirmed, or is OPP merely a theoretical deathtrap?

Posted by: SnarkSlope at February 2, 2009 10:51 AM

And, who cleans the windows??

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 10:55 AM

Good question SS. I don't know, but, FWIW, I DO know Glenn Phillips (from when he was the director of the Prospect Park Audubon Center) and I don't think he's someone who'd indulge in baseless speculation.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at February 2, 2009 10:58 AM

'The design is a set-up'

Yes, architects sit at their drafting tables 'hhmmm, let's design a building so it's a 'deathtrap for birds'...and we'll design a built-in wiper and a slide down shoot into each window.

I don't know much about Canadian Geese, but like anything Canadian, I'm sure they're dense :-)

Posted by: bayridgegirl at February 2, 2009 11:01 AM

I passed that building driving through the circle this weekend - amazing how clear the glass is and how many apartments you can see into. It must be nice at times but also pretty brutal when the sun is shining in. Maybe looks nice as a concept but seems to have a lot of drawbacks.

Posted by: jawbreaker at February 2, 2009 11:03 AM

The views of the park must be delicious.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at February 2, 2009 11:09 AM

so much for the bird's eye view. and yeah, blame Canada.

Posted by: cb6 at February 2, 2009 11:13 AM

'The views of the park must be delicious.'

Not if you're flying away from the park!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at February 2, 2009 11:15 AM

They shouldn't allow those damn geese to cross the border. Can't we train the parrots to attack them???

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 2, 2009 11:21 AM

The birds typically endangered, from what I've read about this and other problem sites, are smaller migrants, exactly the "good" birds that birders love. (Although it would be wonderful to see some of the excess Canada Goose population crashing headlong into the aeries of well-heeled penthouse buyers; they might be encouraged to think of it as Fresh Direct fois gras delivery.) Personally, I can't imagine why anyone would want to live with glass walls, even with a killer view (weren't walls invented partly for privacy?), but then I've never gotten the whole Sloper walk-around-in-your-undies-in-your-street-level-brownstone-with-shades-up, either.

Great scenario if Woody ever goes back to making funny NYC movies: Starchitect-happy apartment dwellers sipping their shade-grown "bird-safe" coffee whilst the orioles and warblers smack into their window/walls like little feathered paintballs (TWEET! squish...TWEET! squish...)

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at February 2, 2009 11:28 AM

The bird death issue was also raised about the plans for the glass tower in PLG. But I heard that that was no longer being built--is that true?

Posted by: shillstoner at February 2, 2009 11:57 AM

Shillstoner,

No one really knows about the proposed Lincoln Road glass tower in PLG, but I've seen no activity at the site since last Summer.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at February 2, 2009 3:47 PM

The NY Post article author called me after I posted on another venue about seeing dead birds around the building. I assumed bird #1 had just croaked, then when a second twitched before falling into permanent slumber, I suspected it may have hit the building. It's common knowledge that birds often meet their end when they hit glass. This is however only one of the reasons I question the wisdom of the proliferation of this renewable building material.

Posted by: newcolonist at February 2, 2009 5:08 PM

Brenda, funny sh*t. Hopefully Woody is reading.

Posted by: JLater at February 2, 2009 5:10 PM

This was happening with a building in my hometown. I would walk by and see beautiful gold finches dead on the side walk. The building helped the problem by putting big Birds of Prey decals on the windows. These warn birds away from the windows. It is a low cost solution and once the building did this it really cut down on crashes.

Posted by: sbbrock at February 2, 2009 8:55 PM

Excellent idea. I propose hanging some plastic owls on OPP. It might save a few songbirds, but more importantly, it will give Richard Meier a stroke.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at February 2, 2009 9:44 PM

"Then again, ... there have been reports that the bird population is too great" - this is hands down the stupidest thing I've read today. Yes, we need more glass buildings to kill more birds. After all, jets need to be saved!

If you do a simple google search you will quickly find out that birds flying into glass buildings is a pretty serious problem. It's actually not up for debate. Just another example of the continuing degradation of our environment.

Oh except maybe the problem is TOO MANY BIRDS!

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11027

Posted by: WillBklyn at February 2, 2009 11:20 PM

Post a comment

Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.

Latest Restaurant Additions