The Disappearing Looking Glass...
Not again! That sickening thud. You run to the window hoping to see
it flying away. Oh, thank goodness, there it goes. A little worse
for wear and a bit erratic... but it's alive!
Too many times you've rushed to the window only to find a stunned or
injured song bird lying motionless on the ground. Even worse is
discovering that it's actually dead.
What's a person to do, other
than boarding up the windows?
Fortunately, there are some
solutions... some homemade and others commercial.
But first, do you
know
why wild song birds fly into windows?
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Ghostly impression left
by a wild bird crashing into a window |
That's right... because they are flying toward what they see...
trees and sky reflected in the glass. Normal take-off speed won't
usually kill them, but panicked speed often does. So, what makes
them panic?Either a hawk or some other bird of prey has flown by, or a cat has just
blown its cover. Or, some "chicken little" in the flock has just
shrieked "Danger! The sky is falling!"
Whatever the reason, here's
what you can do to help them.
How to prevent wild song birds from
flying into windows...
It's as simple as breaking up the reflection in the window. Folks report varying success with
each of these methods... listed in order of success, from greatest
to least successful:
Move bird feeders and bird baths...
This is highly successful, and
especially easy and inexpensive to accomplish (and why it's
listed first).
Move the feeders and baths very close to the house. The theory here
is that the birds will take off in a direction away from the house,
or at least if they do strike a window the speed will not harm them.
You could also locate your bird feeders and baths quite a
distance from your home. If birds have to make a
panic-escape, they will be closer to real trees than to your house.
Of course, you could locate feeders and baths in both locations...
Hang fine-mesh netting or screening material in front of the window...
This is also highly successful. Nearly everyone who has tried this reports success. Our thought is
that the rest just didn't apply the screening correctly.
The theory
here is that the screening prevents birds from seeing any
reflection at all. It has the added benefit of cushioning any
collisions, should they occur.
Run string or twine from corner to corner, crossing the string in
the center of the window... Tie several ribbons or strips cut from plastic grocery
bags in the center and elsewhere on the string.
The theory is that
the birds focus on the movement instead of the reflection behind
it... they don't see the reflected sky and trees.
Affix painters tape or masking tape in a small grid...
The key to
success with this one is to put the tape on the outside of the
window in a small grid pattern.
The theory here is that it will look
like a barrier to wild song birds, rather than a means of escape.
Affix decals to the outside of the window...
The jury's still out
on this one. Nearly all of those reporting success used a commercial product that is inconspicuous to the human eye, but is
like a glaring neon to birds' eyes.
Apparently, the theory is that birds will fly away from the
glare. We also assume that the more decals there are, the more
successful they become.
Hang feathers on the outside of the window...
The jury is definitely
in on this one... we haven't found anyone who recommends it.
Probably the only way this would work would be to apply them
to string as described in a previous method.
Hopefully, you can now lessen or even completely avoid that horrible
thud against your windows.
None of us can do much about predatory hawks or cats, but we can
certainly give wild song birds a safe escape route. One that doesn't
include flying into that looking glass of a window.
Acknowledgements:
Picture courtesy of Jim Corbutt - Albany... found at
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/SafeFeedingEnvironment.htm
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