Graffiti on bus shelters saves birds from fatal collisions

Vandalising a bus shelter with graffiti is generally frowned upon, but it turns out that a spray of funky lettering can help save the lives of birds.

Shelters made with large panels of clear glass or plastic present birds with an invisible, potentially life-threatening obstacle. Now, researchers in Poland have found that the rate of collisions with these structures falls dramatically when they are plastered with opaque graffiti.

Researchers at the Polish Academy of Sciences made regular visits to 81 different bus shelters in the south-west of Poland over a year. They…