Environmental club continues movement to protect birds

Couch’s Kingbird, a native bird of the Rio Grande Valley, perches Wednesday near the UTRGV Pollinator Garden on the Brownsville campus.
Michelle Hernández/THE RIDER

The Environmental Awareness Club continues its work to prevent bird collisions through its movement, Stop the Thud, in collaboration with the UTRGV Office for Sustainability, as previously reported by The Rider on Feb. 23.

According to a statement from Stephanie Trujillo, program manager for the Office for Sustainability, the EAC primarily leads Stop the Thud, with support from the office.

The Office for Sustainability’s primary involvement is through hosting “the bird-window collision reporting form” on the office’s website and providing the data to the EAC. At the same time, the club raises awareness and encourages reports on bird-window collisions.

In Trujillo’s statement, she confirmed as of Wednesday, there have been 23 bird-collision reports on the Office for Sustainability’s part, but there may be more based on what the EAC has collected.

Shannon Hernandez, a political science junior and recruitment officer for the EAC, said Stop the Thud is meant to prevent bird collisions with windows, which primarily happen on the Edinburg campus but also occur on the Brownsville campus.

“The birds are physically unable to see the windows … so they think it’s still the liberated sky, but then of course they bump into it, and they unfortunately die,” Hernandez said. “Our final objective is to get the university to be able to put tint on the windows so these birds stop colliding with the windows.”

Sofia Martinez, an environmental science senior and president of the EAC, said through the bird-collision form, students used to be able to report bird collisions only from the Edinburg campus. Still, now they can report from the Brownsville campus as well.

Shown is the Music, Science and Learning Center building where most bird-window collisions have been reported on Brownsville campus.
Michelle Hernández/THE RIDER

Currently, according to Trujillo, Stop the Thud is still in phase one: collecting data on hotspots on the UTRGV campus where most bird collisions occur.

“The goal is to have enough numbers for the university to notice us,” Sofia Martinez said, referring to the movement’s current goal.

Further actions, the EAC has taken so far include making cut-outs of birds and specifically meowls, an internet image of a cat with an owl’s body. The cut-outs were displayed throughout the Student Union Lawn on Brownsville campus during Sustainability Day on Oct. 15.

Sofia Martinez said the bird cut-outs, specifically meowls, are meant to attract students and raise awareness of the Stop the Thud movement.

Additionally, the EAC has confirmed two Stop the Thud protests on both Edinburg and Brownsville campuses. The protest will be at University Library lawn on the Brownsville campus on Nov. 2, and at the Quad on the Edinburg campus on Nov. 4.

Valeria Martinez, an ocean, coastal, and earth sciences graduate student and the Brownsville coordinator of EAC, said the main way students can get involved with the Stop the Thud movement is by participating in EAC’s protest at the beginning of November.

Valeria Martinez added students who are interested in participating in Stop the Thud can also join the EAC to support preparation activities. If students do not have time to join the club, they can participate by completing the bird-window collision form and sharing it with others to collect more data for the movement.