Birds breaking their necks on my windows.
 

We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
windows on both floors. Five (!!!) birds in the last two weeks have
been killed through flying into the glass (4 finches and 1 mourning
dove - this last one sounded like a bomb going off) . We have tried
the self-stick decals, and they seem to not work. What is the next
step - colored streamers hanging from the eaves?

Anyone with real world experience, please comment. I live in the USA.
We don't want to terrify the birds into leaving the yard, just to mark
the danger area. We also don't want to destroy the view out the
windows.

BTW - how big does a bird have to be to break a plate glass window?

Thanks.

John

John Davies TLCA 14732
http://home.comcast.net/~johnedavies/
'96 Lexus LX450
'00 Audi A4 1.8T quattro
Spokane WA USA

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:04:58 -0700, John Davies
wrote:

We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
windows on both floors. Five (!!!) birds in the last two weeks have
been killed through flying into the glass (4 finches and 1 mourning
dove - this last one sounded like a bomb going off) . We have tried
the self-stick decals, and they seem to not work. What is the next
step - colored streamers hanging from the eaves?

get some of that black bird netting and put it over the windows. it's pretty
fine and should not block the view. otherwise it sounds like you wound need to
mark up the window pretty well to keep them from hitting it.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes
Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices
See http://www.knight-toolworks.com For prices and ordering instructions.

Another thing to try, and this may not look so pretty (but maybe nicer than
the netting) is to hang a single rope in front of the window that will blow
in the breeze slightly. That, coupled with decals, helped one of my family
members deal with this quite nicely.

I don't know how big a bird has to be to break a window - but if the dove hit
it and didn't break it, that's a good sign...

I am not sure about anything else, but I wonder if there is an
anti-reflective or some kind of tinting material you can affix to the window
that might help? Maybe you can call a window company and ask what they
recommend?

Good luck. That must have been really startling (and saddening) to hear that
last crash!

Holly

: On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:04:58 -0700, John Davies
: wrote:

:We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
:windows on both floors. Five (!!!) birds in the last two weeks have
:been killed through flying into the glass (4 finches and 1 mourning
:dove - this last one sounded like a bomb going off) . We have tried
:the self-stick decals, and they seem to not work. What is the next
:step - colored streamers hanging from the eaves?

I had a family of cardinals 'attacking' all my windows. These attacks ran
from sunrise to sunset. I called the Audubon Society and they told me that
the birds see their reflection in the windows and think it's a foe, hence
the attack. I tried smearing a glass wax on the windows and that didn't
help. I finally resorted to covering my windows with translucent drop cloths
on the outside. The attacks stopped. Took a few weeks and the birds
disappeared and peace was restored to my household.
"HR" wrote in message
...
Another thing to try, and this may not look so pretty (but maybe nicer
than
the netting) is to hang a single rope in front of the window that will
blow
in the breeze slightly. That, coupled with decals, helped one of my family
members deal with this quite nicely.

I don't know how big a bird has to be to break a window - but if the dove
hit
it and didn't break it, that's a good sign...

I am not sure about anything else, but I wonder if there is an
anti-reflective or some kind of tinting material you can affix to the
window
that might help? Maybe you can call a window company and ask what they
recommend?

Good luck. That must have been really startling (and saddening) to hear
that
last crash!

Holly

: On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:04:58 -0700, John Davies

: wrote:

:We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
:windows on both floors. Five (!!!) birds in the last two weeks have
:been killed through flying into the glass (4 finches and 1 mourning
:dove - this last one sounded like a bomb going off) . We have tried
:the self-stick decals, and they seem to not work. What is the next
:step - colored streamers hanging from the eaves?

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:04:58 -0700, someone wrote:

We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
windows on both floors....

LOL, great combination - for a bird trap!

Its gonna be tough to have it both ways - attract birds to your yard,
then have them not hit your windows, while at the same time having an
unobstructed view for yourselves.

Unlike a person, a bird will not understand your "signal" - that the
clear area between stickers is not open; if they understood glass you
wouldn't be having this problem to begin with.

My vote of the ideas posted so far, is the netting. You will be able
to see through it, but it would be a somewhat filtered view. Reality
bites.

BTW, I have a country home with lots of birds and no curatins, birds
hit all the time, but I have not seen any dead ones around the
footings. Maybe my birds have stronger necks, dunno.

-v.

You're on the right track but now the birds are seeing their reflection
in your window and fly to attack it. You will have to reduce the outside
reflectivity. Perhaps there are some window films that will work. If not,
you can try using some translucent paper or cloth but put it on the outside
of the window.

A crashing mourning dove can make quite a noise. We had one crash into
a picture window as it was being chased by a hawk. The window didn't crack,
but from the sound, you would have thought the whole thing had exploded.
Once we got vertical blinds, the opening no longer appeared to be accessible
and birds have avoided it.

Good Luck.

"John Davies" wrote in message
...
We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
windows on both floors. Five (!!!) birds in the last two weeks have
been killed through flying into the glass (4 finches and 1 mourning
dove - this last one sounded like a bomb going off) . We have tried
the self-stick decals, and they seem to not work. What is the next
step - colored streamers hanging from the eaves?

Anyone with real world experience, please comment. I live in the USA.
We don't want to terrify the birds into leaving the yard, just to mark
the danger area. We also don't want to destroy the view out the
windows.

BTW - how big does a bird have to be to break a plate glass window?

Thanks.

John

John Davies TLCA 14732
http://home.comcast.net/~johnedavies/
'96 Lexus LX450
'00 Audi A4 1.8T quattro
Spokane WA USA

"John Davies" wrote
We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
windows on both floors. Five (!!!) birds in the last two weeks have
been killed through flying into the glass (4 finches and 1 mourning
dove - this last one sounded like a bomb going off) . We have tried
the self-stick decals, and they seem to not work. What is the next
step - colored streamers hanging from the eaves?

Anyone with real world experience, please comment. I live in the USA.
We don't want to terrify the birds into leaving the yard, just to mark
the danger area. We also don't want to destroy the view out the
windows.

BTW - how big does a bird have to be to break a plate glass window?

Thanks.

John

I loan ya my mother outlaw to stand naked in the window. I'll guarantee
they won't come within 20 ft. of the window.

Have you tried the decal of a hawk outline? I had a similar problem
and the hawk decal cured it.

--Neil

"John Davies" wrote in message
...
We have several feeders out back and the house has large picture
windows on both floors. Five (!!!) birds in the last two weeks have
been killed through flying into the glass (4 finches and 1 mourning
dove - this last one sounded like a bomb going off) . We have tried
the self-stick decals, and they seem to not work. What is the next
step - colored streamers hanging from the eaves?

Anyone with real world experience, please comment. I live in the USA.
We don't want to terrify the birds into leaving the yard, just to mark
the danger area. We also don't want to destroy the view out the
windows.

BTW - how big does a bird have to be to break a plate glass window?

Thanks.

John

John Davies TLCA 14732
http://home.comcast.net/~johnedavies/
'96 Lexus LX450
'00 Audi A4 1.8T quattro
Spokane WA USA