Quote:
Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger
Quote:
Originally Posted by thedoc
A couple years ago there was a male Robin attacking it's reflection in our windows. There is another bird doing the same now, but it's all slate grey with slightly darker tail feathers. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to scare the bird away from the windows? I tried hanging a string with different objects hanging from it on the outside of the window, the Robin just flew past it and went for the reflection. I also taped printed images of hawks on the inside of the window, they had no effect.
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Yeah, that can be a problem during the breeding season. He'll probably become a lot less territorial after the breeding season, and the problem will (temporarily) take care of itself.
The problem, of course, is due to the highly reflective glass in many windows. Some places (especially building located along bird flyways) use low-reflection glass in part specifically to prevent bird strikes and/or birds from mistaking their reflections for competitors. Some companies make "bird safe" glass that has very low reflectivity in visible light but very high reflectivity in ultraviolet (many birds can see well into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum); since it reflects UV light, birds can see it and so won't fly into it, but since it doesn't reflect "visible" light well, birds are unlikely to see their reflections in it. But I doubt you'd want to replace your windows.
Some products, like " Collidescape" are specifically designed to reduce the reflectivity of windows, discouraging birds from either flying into them (it's thought that a big reason birds often fly into highly reflective windows is because they see the sky reflected in the window and don't realize there's glass there) or getting into territorial disputes with their reflections.
Some people use " Sun Shields " of various sorts for similar purposes.
Though you commonly see hawk silhouettes stuck to windows as bird deterrents, they don't really work very well. A motionless picture or silhouette doesn't seem to be of much deterrent value. On the other hand, silhouettes that reflect well in the UV range do seem to have some value -- evidently, size and high UV reflectivity matter more than whether or not it really looks like a hawk.
WindowAlert decals, for example, are designed to be highly reflective in UV, and so are good for preventing birds from flying into your windows, but they might not be so effective at preventing territorial behavior.
If you can get your hands on a realistic-looking rubber snake or a realistic-looking plastic owl, those are often used to scare away birds. The problem is that if it isn't moved fairly often, the birds seem to catch on pretty quickly.
In all likelihood, the only more or less permanent solution is to, one way or another, reduce the window's reflectivity in the visible light part of the spectrum, so that territorial males can't see their reflections.
Hopefully, that's of at least some help! |
Thankyou, those are all good recommendations but we have a lot of windows. When we had our new house built we decided to include a lot of windows, and all the outside corners (6 of them) were on a 45 degree angle. Perhaps this will give you an idea of what I mean.
Picasa Web Albums - Nat Smith - House
Photos 3, 4, 5, show the windows in the living room and the library above. We have 2 spare bedrooms and the master bed room with the same arrangement, and the master bath is the same but with shorter windows. On the first floor we have 24 windows including 2 in doors but not including 2 small ones on either side of the main door. Add to that the 6 windows in the library, with the living room being open to the library above it. It is very bright in the living room, even on a cloudy day, makes napping difficult, if you're used to sleeping in the dark.
I should add that the windows in the living room and the library are 2 and 3 stories off the ground, with nothing under them except the ground, makes it a bit difficult to get to.