The change at Chicago’s Lakeside Center was small enough to describe in one word: dots. The scale was another matter. In summer 2024, McCormick Place treated roughly two football fields’ worth of windows with a dotted pattern designed to help birds recognize the glass ahead of them.
The first fall migration brought a result the venue could measure. On January 8, McCormick Place reported that recorded bird collisions had fallen by more than 95% following the installation. That figure describes recorded collisions at Lakeside Center during the fall 2024 migration period.
For building owners, the story offers a practical starting point. Identify the panes where strikes recur, document what happens there, and keep counting after the glass is treated. The most valuable part of Chicago’s project was what came after the installation: someone checked whether the birds were getting through safely.