Ornilux and DEAD DUCK DAY

5/6-2013

A heads-up, if you happen to be near Rotterdam, in the Netherlands — ornithologist Kees Moeliker and friends will be celebrating the annual Dead Duck Day on June 5, at 17:55, on the lawn outside the glass-enclosed wing of Rotterdam’s Natural History Museum. Attendance is free. At this year’s event, Moeliker will unveil a plaque, to be placed near the crack in the window that, as the plaque explains: marks the spot where, on June 5th 1995 at 17:55 h, a mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) died after colliding with the glass building. Immediately after falling to the ground, the dead duck was mounted by a (live) duck — also of the male sex. The copulation took 75 minutes, and became known in the scientific community as ‘the first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard’. The victim is on display in the museum. >www.ted.com/speakers/kees_moeliker.html
Read about last year’s Dead Duck Day, which featured a special message sent by ornithologist and bird-watcher Tim Birkhead. http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_birkhead_the_wisdom_of_birds.html

www.PhysOrg.com wrote on Aug 26, 2010 by Lin Edwards
A new bird-friendly glass has been developed that could prevent the deaths and serious injuries of countless birds that fly at high speed into glass windows.
Birds do not see transparent glass, but are misled by the landscape reflected in the window or seen through it into thinking their way is clear of obstacles. Stickers attached to the glass have been shown to have almost no effect, and have even been taken off the market in Switzerland. Stickers are only really effective if they cover a significant portion of the glass.
A new product, called Ornilux Mikado glass, addresses the issue. The insulating glass was developed by German company Arnold Glas and is glass sheeting with a special ultraviolet (UV) reflective coating that is almost invisible to the human eye, but looks like a spider's web to birds. Birds are able to see a broader spectrum of wavelengths than humans, and can easily see the UV lines on the coating.

Ornilux Mikado is the latest version of bird-friendly insulating glass. The first installation consisted of 152 sheets of Ornilux Mikado's predecessor, the Ornilux SB 1, for the 250 square meter glass facade of an enclosed swimming pool in Plauen, Germany, during its modernization in early 2006.
Arnold Glas, based in Merkendorf, Germany, recently won an International design award, the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, in Essen, Germany, for the bird-friendly glass.

www.arnoldglas.de
Read more at: http://phys.org/news202023577.html#jCp