PHWAP!
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PHWAP!
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PHWAP!
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PHWAP!
Over and over and over and... You get it. Driving me crazy and also making me worry about the poor bird's tiny, simple little brain. I finally discovered that he/she is building a nest in the rhododendron just outside the the living room window. Not easily visible, but I think if you look closely you can see it.
I remember seeing where people put black silhouettes of hawks on large windows to deter birds from flying into them. I am not inclined to try this, especially since I truly enjoy the view out that window as it is, hawk-free. And this doesn't seem to be a case of a bird accidentally flying into the window. This guy starts out on the ground below the window, then purposefully flings himself into the glass. Aye, yi, yi. I had a little gel kind of window sticker that I put on the window, thinking that might discourage him. It didn't. Today I remembered a little leaded glass butterfly I never hung up anywhere when we moved and I dug it out and hung it at the window. It's been about 20 minutes now and the bird hasn't hit the window since. Maybe I've found a solution. Maybe.
Update: An hour later the bird is back, launching himself at the window. Now what?
This happened to us at the house in Crescent City. The problem there was that the birds gorging themselves on the mysterious mushrooms and then losing all sense of orientation.
ReplyDeleteOur bird problem this year is that they are making frequent poop passes over the the sidewalk.
Hope the butterfly solves your problem.
I am wondering if it was seeing its reflection and thought it was another bird and was trying to protect the nest. We have had this problem off and on. In our house in Santa Rosa, the back of the house was all sliding glass doors and they would often fly into it, or if left open, fly into the house. I think your window is just too clean. Smutch it up a bit!!
ReplyDeleteperhaps he is trying to land in the reflection of the rhododendron (or one of the other bushes?)
ReplyDeleteI was trying to think of something you could put on the window when I got to where you put the butterfly on. I am glad it seems to work.
I can guess you would go crazy worrying about the bird and, if it is making a nest, if it was going to do it for the next few months!
Sandy in the UK
I've seen people put stickers in various places on the window, or X'es of masking tape -- not the most design worthy but it apparently works!
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you position a lamp inside the window, it might reduce the reflections on the outside?
ReplyDeleteWe had a robin doing the same thing. We finally figured out that it was seeing its reflection and when we put something over the window, it stopped. We had a piece of shade cloth so we could still see through it.
ReplyDeleteWell if the butterfly didn't do the trick, why don't you call the Audubon Society, they might have an answer, cuz if all works out, you are gonna have all kinds of thumping once the little ones try to fly.
ReplyDeleteGerrie is right. We have the same problem every spring. They see their reflection and think the other bird is in their territory. I either turn on a light, or partially close the blind, anything to change the reflective quality of the window. Once the sun sits higher in the sky in a couple of weeks, the Kamikaze routine stops, even when they lay the second batch of eggs.
ReplyDeleteHow about hanging strips of fabric OUTSIDE of the window with thumb tacks... you could even use a sheer... that would impair the reflection, you could still see out, and give him (I am assuming it is a "him") a texture to feel before hitting the window...
ReplyDeleteanother thought. we had a woodpecker banging the heck out of the unused rusty TV antenna . turns out he was doing his job, eating caterpillars which had strung a web/nest up there.
ReplyDeleteBorrow a bb gun, worked for us.
ReplyDeleteI tried everything to stop a chaffinch doing this last year, to no avail - even blanking the reflection out didn't work. I think he only stopped when his beak was flattened. It took several weeks - we had to go and sit somewhere else meantime. So far he hasn't appeared this year but just in case, please let us know if you find a solution!
ReplyDeleteSame problem at our house. This is the third year. Only happens in the morning, on the west facing picture window. The robin sits in the oak tree, six feet away, glaring at the window, then attacking it.
ReplyDeleteWe now position a floor lamp with one of the directional lamps focused toward the window. Each day when I hear the PHWAP!, I go out to the living room and turn the lamp on. Then the robin stops wasting his time. [And I can go back to sleep.]
If they hit the window once, it's because they're disoriented or couldn't see it because of the light. If they repeatedly attack it, they see their reflection as an invader to their territory. My parents have had a cardinal for several years that does this. It attacks three different windows, then moves on to attack the side mirrors of every car parked in the drive (and leaves presents on all the sides of the cars.) Strips of aluminum foil sometimes work. Cut them or fold them so they are 2" or so wide by however long you would like them. Twist them a few times so they catch the light more and hang them with string outside so they'll move in the breeze.
ReplyDeleteI like the floor lamp pointed at the window idea.
We had this same problem with a female Cardinal. She would incessantly fly into the glass door. This went on, and off for over two years! She did cease for a while during nesting season, but immediately started the same process over once her babies had left the nest. We have large areas of glass on both the front, and back areas of the house, and if she wasn't flying into the glass on the front, she was at the back! The only remedy we found was to hang a fine, bird netting over the windows and doors. You couldn't see it from a distance, but it kept her from flying into the glass. I know what you mean about it driving you crazy! Their little beaks, and claws will also scratch the glass. Sandy
ReplyDeleteHi-LOVE your blog :) I have lived in my home for 17 yrs. I feed TONS of seeds to the birdies year-round. I have divided lights in my windows. I also have blinds that are closed/opened/raised during the day. I STILL get the occasional bird hitting the windows. Sometimes they die but that is a RARE thing.....A few have decided to ATTACK car mirrors when they are parked in my driveway. I have tried the silhouettes/fake owls/snakes/etc.... Sometimes I think we just encounter mentally defective birds, that's all....No worries..nature DOES take care of things if we let her do her job :)
ReplyDeleteAlso had the same problem, the robins would launch themselves off of a trellis just outside the window. I tried decals on the windows, pinwheels tied to the trellis, nothing worked. Finally I put aluminum foil across the whole top of the trellis, they hated landing on it. Viola! No more robin spit all over my windows.
ReplyDeleteI shared your predicament with my sister and these are her suggestions and comments:
ReplyDelete"I suspect that the robin is fighting its own reflection in the window, trying to drive off a supposed interloper from the vicinity of the nest. She could lower the window blind in the hope that this would cut down on the reflectivity of the glass. She would lose her view for the time being, of course, but once the robin was no longer being agitated by the apparent close proximity of an enemy, it would probably go about its normal business and forget about the window.
Or she could just wait and do nothing. Once the young robins have fledged, the adult will no longer feel a need to defend the nest (unless, of course, it decides to have a second brood), and the attacks on the window will stop. According to The Birder's Handbook, robins incubate their eggs for 12 to 14 days. After another 14 to 16 days, the young are ready to leave the nest. A month is a long time to let a bird keep flying into a window, however, so my preference would be to block the reflection somehow."