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C O L L E C T I O NS W A R T H M O R E C O L L E G E B U L L E T I NS a v i n g t h e b i r d sWWhen a “Green Team” was formed to advise on theenvironmental aspects of the College’s new sciencecenter—an 80,000-square-foot complex projected tobegin construction next June—its members did not havebirds in mind. The group was to research and report onsuch matters as recycling building materials; reducing stormwater runoff outside and energy usage inside; and thecost-effectiveness of wind turbines, ground-sourceheat pumps, and solar hot-water heaters.Now, minimizing bird deaths hasbeen added to the list.It seems that the center’sScience Commons,designed, in part, by MargaretHelfand ’69, an architect of Kohlberg Hall,will involve two stories of plate glass looking out onCrum Woods. There, students and faculty members will beable to relax and observe, firsthand, the natural sciences atwork.But plate glass can be hazardous to the wildlife it makesso beautifully accessible. This fact was evident in a reportforwarded to the Green Team last spring by Guido Grasso-Knight and Michael Waddington, then senior biology majorswho had conducted a study of bird deaths on campus for anornithology class taught by Professor of Biology TimothyWilliams ’64.Although they found only one dead bird during theirresearch, reports from around campus and smudges on windowsled them to estimate that about 100 birds die eachyear from hitting the windows of College buildings. Anothersix birds were found dead and four seriously injured underwindows last spring that were not recorded in the study,Williams adds. Downed birds are quickly eaten by other animals,the students reported, so evidence of collisions is difficultto track. Although they admit their methods of recordingevidence were “less than optimal,” their findings leaveno doubt that the danger zones for birds are Kohlberg Halland the Cornell Science and Engineering Library, both ofwhich sport large plate-glass windows. Kohlberg aloneaccounted for 75 of the 100 estimated deaths.Soon after reviewing this study, the Green Team invitedDr. Daniel Klem Jr., a professor of biology at MuhlenburgCollege, to lecture on bird collisions, a topic on which hehas written dozens of papers. Klem estimates that “windowmortality” claims as many as 975 million birds in NorthAmerica—10 percent of the bird population—each year. Theevolution of flight among birds, he explains, has not yetadapted to man-made phenomena like tall buildings, artificiallight, and large expanses of glass.Two years ago, five hummingbirds were found dead inKohlberg Hall’s Cosby Courtyard, a garden surrounded onthree sides by plate-glass windows. Associate Professor ofBiology Sara Hiebert ’79, who studies hummingbirds, saysthat those five represented a substantial part of the hummingbirdpopulation on campus.“The Scott Arboretum staff had planted certain bushes inthe courtyard to attract birds and butterflies,” says ProfessorWilliams. “They didn’t realize that they were actuallyattracting the birds into a death trap. After they realized theproblem in 1999, they removed the nectar-producing bushes,and we only had one or two hummingbirds killed thatyear.”Now the Green Team has begun its own research into theproblem. Their primary concern is how to prevent the College’snewest building from becoming another “deathtrap.” Carr Everbach, associate professor of engineeringand chair of the Green Team, explains that “either birdsare looking through the glass to the other side and tryingto fly through, or they see a reflection of trees andsky and fly into it.”“Hawk silhouettes,” the black birdshapeddeterrents that adhere to windows,are useless at warning birdsoff, Everbach adds. Unfortunately,he concludes, bird collisions are“a problem without a perfectsolution. Klem has made a pleafor nonreflective matte-finishedglass, but this is very expensive and would beimpractical for this project,” he says. “Any window largerthan 4 square inches looks like an opening to most birds. Ifbirds think they’re seeing a path, however narrow, they willtry to fly through. The only real solution is to build buildingswith no windows, but that won’t happen.”“In fact, birds rarely collide with any window smallerthan 1 foot across, although it does happen,” Williams adds.“The windows of other buildings such as Parrish and Martinrarely have bird collisions. It is only since the constructionof Cornell that there have been reports of collisions at theCollege. Kohlberg was the first building on campus to bringthe bird mortality to crisis levels and the first to use massiveopen-glass areas.”Among the bird-friendly measures being considered,Everbach says, is the proper placement of bird feeders.“One of Klem’s observations is that if bird feeders areplaced two to three feet from the glass, birds won’t get upenough speed, flying from the feeder, to be seriouslyinjured,” Everbach says. Feeders placed 10 or more feetfrom the glass, on the other hand, are deadly. “So item 1 isto put feeders up against the glass of the new building—which will also be nice for people who want to watch thebirds.”Another idea the Green Team is considering is the placementof finely woven, transparent mesh about a foot fromwindow exteriors. “A bird would hit a trampoline, essentially,and bounce off,” Everbach explains. “The netting wouldbe mostly invisible from inside the building. It would helpduring the bird migration season but would have to beremoved during the fall and winter when leaves and snowwould stick to it. Our idea is to have motorized rolls of thisflexible mesh that roll out under the eaves, then retract duringwinter.” (More information on the Green Team’sresearch—and a detailed look at current plans for the entirescience building—is available at http://sciencecenter.-swarthmore.edu.)—Cathleen McCarthyACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES/VIREO10
GEORGE WIDMANCOACH KAREN BORBEE TEACHES LACROSSE DAYCAMPERS IN JUNE.D a yc a m p i n gWhile parts of the College campusare deserted during the summer,the athletic fields are bustling. Lookclosely, however, and you notice thatthe athletes are often smaller thanusual.Summer is sports camp time atSwarthmore, when coaches find themselvesteaching children the tricks ofthe game. This summer, four Swarthmorecoaches ran sports camps.Women’s basketball coach AdrienneShibles and men’s lacrosse coach PatGress each ran 5-day day camps, for 8-to 14-year-olds. Wrestling coach RonTirpak taught wrestling to high schoolersin the evenings for two weeks inJune. And Karen Borbee, coach of thewomen’s field hockey and lacrosseteams, ran two 5-day camps for 10- to15-year-olds: one for field hockey andone for lacrosse.Borbee started her sports daycamps at the College seven years ago,aiming at middle school students.“Now I work with students as young as8—if they’re really interested—and asold as high school freshmen,” shesays. “My philosophy is to teach thebeginner and intermediate. These areintroduction camps. We provide theequipment and let children try out thesport and see if they like it.“Teaching girls this young is fun ina different way,” Borbee says. “You’reintroducing a sport to a child. But thefunny thing is, as different as thesekids are in age and experience fromcollege students, they’re also very similar.I use the same philosophy that Iuse on my college students. Basically, Iwant it to be fun. I want them to learnthe skills and basic strategies, butmostly I want them to enjoy playing asport. If it’s not fun, they won’t continue—andwe want them to continue.”Borbee says Swarthmore is an ideallocation for sports camps. “We havebeautiful fields, and we’re centrallylocated to so many schools wherelacrosse and field hockey are popular,”she says. “With kids starting sportsyounger and younger, associationsand youth clubs are springing up allover the area. Working parents arelooking for places to send their kids inthe summer and trying to be morespecific about their interests.”She can see the effects of sportscamps on her college student athletes.“You can tell the kids who’ve gone tocamp. They have good basic skillsbecause that’s what camps emphasize.Those who just jump into scrimmagingand game situations are often missingthat.”—Cathleen McCarthyN E W L Y T E N U R E DThe following faculty members haverecently been promoted to the rank ofassociate professor with tenure: SaraHiebert, biology; Haili Kong, Chinese;Lisa Meeden, computer science; PhilipJefferson, economics; Nora Johnson,English literature; Patricia White, Englishliterature; Timothy Burke, history;Michael Brown, physics; CynthiaHalpern, political science; Frank Durgin,psychology; Sarah Willie, sociology;and Maria Luisa Guardiola, Spanish.t h i s y e a r ’ sf a l lI think about breathall the time. the breathof sky on our hands,breath of wind turningthis red autumninto another half-moonmemory.this city eases meinto smaller days,sun falling in-betweenthe hours and I watchthe breath of air alongmy back.this city cringesletters back at nightand writes an encryptedmessage: the mysteryof our ancient hearts.I touch stones,hands skimming wet,broken rock and feelthe loss of anothercity, each town returnedto oblivion.maybe it’s how deathstorms. or the threatof (another) warbut I’m tired of writingthese lettersthat crumble at the touch.I’ve heard the echoof endless grief and whatit means to be eternal.I can’t call thisthe eternal city yet.I’m too young and storiesthat rise out of milkshopsand cemeteries only make me tired.this fall cools summer’sslum as I watch a river gleamwith the memory of mythic babies.eternal. this place.it shifts words back into a languageI thought I knew but autumnhas turned this fall into ruins,the breath of wandering.—Lena Sze ’01Lena Sze is a classics major from NewYork City. She was studying in Rome lastfall when she wrote this poem. It wasfirst published in the winter 1999 issueof Small Craft Warnings, a student literarymagazine.S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 011
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