It is becoming increasingly common for me to receive reports of injured/dead birds on glass balconies. The photo with this report shows a tawny owl desperately trying to escape its glass prison (this is a still from the actual video received).

In this instance, the occupants were able to lift the bird up with a towel, so that it could then fly off again. However in many cases the bird simply exhausts itself, or damages limbs, or dies through being predated by others, or simply killed by the weather as there is no shelter in these glass prisons. Birdstrikes do also occur when the bird flies directly into the glass as it cannot see it - but as these birds very rarely survive the collision AND the fall to the floor, I very rarely hear about them at the time.

I don't know the answer, but the designers of these constructions need to be made aware of the negative impact it is having upon the birdlife around us.

Nigel