You are here... Wild Song Birds  >  Caring For Wild Birds  >  

Why Birds Fly Into Windows..

by Susan Nelson Hopkins

First, the consequences of these wild bird strikes...

You don't have to be an avid bird gardener or birder to be alarmed by this... just an average person who appreciates birds.

Understanding why birds fly into windows and skyscrapers...

To get to the other side, naturally.

Seriously, though, it's no laughing matter... So, what can we do about it? The key is knowing why they do it:

1. They see their own reflection and want to attack the "intruder".
2. They see reflections of trees and sky and want to fly toward them.
3. They see what looks like a fly-through escape corridor between buildings, or what appear to be welcome places to land during migrations.

The logical, but flawed, reasoning is to locate feeders just far enough from the house so as not to scare the birds, yet still close enough to see them.

Ghostly impression left by a wild bird crashing into a window

The danger with this placement is when a bird senses danger, or sees what it thinks is an intruder in its territory, it takes flight quickly.

By the time it reaches the window, it has reached a dangerous speed... enough to stun or even kill it.

A quick solution is to locate feeders either right next to the house, or far enough away that the window is not anywhere near the birds' flight path to or from the feeders.

On the other hand, birds crashing into skyscrapers is totally logical... especially glass or mirrored buildings.

The most lethal times are during the spring and summer migration of millions of wild song birds, when entire groups can perish. These amazing creatures, many of them traveling thousands of miles, are exhausted and flying through unfamiliar territory... and easily betrayed by windowed skyscrapers.

Amazingly, human nature dictates there are some folks reading this who are thinking, "Now I know where the saying, 'Bird-brained' comes from. Flying into windows and patio doors... and buildings! How dumb!"

My answer is... About as dumb as walking into a sliding glass door! Or reaching through a closed car window. Or... yep, "Stupid is, as stupid does" (as Forest Gump would say)

Ok, enough of the soap box preaching... what can we do to help these wonderful creatures (the birds, silly).

Each of these articles offers a solution to birds attacking their reflections or flying into windows...

• How to Deal with Birds Attacking Windows
• How to Keep Birds from Flying into Windows
• How Birds Are Being Protected from Flying into Buildings

Let's all do our part... be the genie that grants wild song birds at least one of these wishes!

Acknowledgements:
Picture courtesy of Jim Corbutt - Albany... found at
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/SafeFeedingEnvironment.htm

(back to top of page)