February Program and Meeting

Cats and windows: Two of the greatest threats to our declining bird populations, presented by Scott Loss – Professor of Biology at Oklahoma State University. 

In addition to important human-caused threats like climate change and habitat loss, bird populations are affected by several direct sources of human-caused mortality, like predation by domestic cats, chemical poisoning, and collisions with vehicles and structures (e.g., power lines, wind turbines, communication towers, and building windows). Based on research led by Dr. Scott Loss, predation by free-roaming domestic cats and collisions with windows are the top two direct sources of bird mortality in the United States. In this talk, Dr. Loss will summarize the state of our knowledge about these two major threats to birds, including the research that he and his students have led at Oklahoma State University. He will also discuss controversial aspects of these issues before highlighting an optimistic path forward for reducing the impacts of cats and windows. This will include highlighting steps that all of us can take to make our yards, cities, and rural areas more bird-friendly, and showcasing grassroots initiatives that are addressing collisions and cat predation to help our declining bird populations.

Scott Loss is a Professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Oklahoma State University. He earned a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, an M.S. degree from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining OSU, he also spent 2 years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center at the National Zoo. At OSU, he and his students study various topics in global change ecology, including effects of climate change and invasive species on birds and other wildlife, the role of birds and changing landscapes in the ecology and transmission of tick- and mosquito-borne diseases, and the many human-caused sources of mortality affecting bird populations, such as predation by domestic cats and collisions with buildings and energy infrastructure. Scott and his students and collaborators have studied bird-window collisions and effects of cats on birds for 12 years, and OSU has become a global leader in research on these topics. In addition to 98 peer-reviewed journal publications, Scott’s research has been covered hundreds of times in the national and international media.

The program will available on YouTube the next day