Study reveals how different messages motivate people to take conservation actions

(Press-News.org) ITHACA, NY—A new study published today in the journal Biological Conservation finds that different communication approaches can influence whether people take action to prevent birds from colliding with windows, a leading cause of bird mortality that kills over 1 billion birds annually in the United States and Canada.

Researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology tested different message framing approaches among bird enthusiasts and the general public to understand what motivates people to make their windows safer for birds. “If we want people to take action to reduce bird and window collisions, we really have to understand how to communicate with them,” said Tina Phillips, co-author and assistant director for the Center for the Engagement in Science and Nature at the Cornell Lab.

The team surveyed nearly 5,000 people across the United States and Canada, to better understand what types of messaging motivates people to prevent bird collisions at their home. Researchers sent detailed surveys to participants to understand how likely they were to take an action after receiving different types of messaging. The content of the messages ranged from just stating the problem to adding context around efficacy, emotion, morality, and normative behavior.

The study found that emphasizing the effectiveness of collision prevention measures, such as placing tape, decals, or film in a 2” x 2” pattern on windows, motivated bird enthusiasts to treat their windows, while emotional appeals were most persuasive for the general public.

 “People who cared about birds responded best to messaging that emphasized the efficacy of treating their windows…they want to know if their action is actually going to make a difference,” Shelby Carlson, lead author and research associate at the Cornell Lab. 

The general public were more likely to install window treatments designed to prevent collisions, when they were shown images and text that appealed to their emotions, such as a bird that was a victim to a collision or language that heightened people's emotions, the researchers found. 

The researchers also found that prior experience with a collision event at their home, educational attainment, and mutualist views of wildlife were positively associated with respondents’ intention to adopt bird-safe windows. 

Messaging that focused on a personal obligation to protect birds from collisions (i.e., moral messaging) or perceived social influence from adapting bird-safe windows (i.e., normative messaging) did not increase the respondent’s intent to treat their windows. Researchers also noted that older adults and respondents that identified as male were less likely to treat their windows.

“What makes this study unique,” said Phillips, “is that we're using social science research and insights to try to understand how to effectively change human behavior to mitigate this problem. By understanding the kinds of messages that people relate to, we can better achieve our goals of trying to encourage people to take action on behalf of birds.” 

“If we want to reduce bird and window collisions, we ultimately have to change human behavior, and we can start to do that by tailoring our messaging for specific audiences,” said Carlson. 

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Carlson, S. C., and T. B. Phillips. (2025). Mitigating Collision-Caused Bird Mortality Through Message Framing: Insights from residents’ intentions for bird-safe windows. Biological Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111438

This research was supported by the Cornell Center for Social Sciences Grant.

Learn more about bird collisions at stopbirdcollisions.org

About the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a nonprofit, member-supported organization dedicated to the understanding and protection of birds, wildlife, and our shared planet through research, education, participatory science, and conservation. The mission of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. birds.cornell.edu

Media Contact:
Kathi Borgmann, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, (607) 254-2137, klb274@cornell.edu

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