Kamikaze Birds

rediguana

Two or three birds per week are crashing into my windows. It's getting better now that the swallows are going though.

The latest casualty was this robin -> http://bit.ly/WxAo5 this morning. After he hit the window, he lay on his back on the ground, looking like he was on the way out. I went out to him and he wasn't able to fly properly, he tried hopping but he couldn't support himself and kept falling over. Sad sight.

Anyway, I put a soft t-shirt in a shoe box and put the little guy in it to recuperate. After twenty minutes or so he was standing up alert. I put the box outside and opened it.

Still took him the bones of a half an hour before he flew off though.

It's hard to be too optimistic about his future though...

Injured Robin Pic -> http://bit.ly/WxAo5

donal7

You can get things to attach to your window that should deter them from flying into it.

There are loads of references on the internet about how to avoid. Here's one:

http://www.sialis.org/windowstrikes.htm

LisaO

We have the same problem. A young blackbird crashed into our kitchen window this morning. Luckily he recovered after 20 minutes or so & flew off but many aren't so lucky - they often break their neck on impact. Worst one we had was a sparrowhawk, the resident gang of magpie thugs mobbed him & chased him. He flew straight into an upstairs window & broke his neck - very sad.

Our problem is that our house is only one room deep, so most rooms have a window on both sides. I presume that the birds can see straight through, see the trees etc on the other side & so keep flying

rediguana

Magpies are brutal, they are always tormenting my cat. I am surprised the sparrowhawk was so bothered by them, guess they had strength in numbers. Yeah, I've found one or two dead on the ground outside a window. It must be an awful shock for them to suddenly impact like that.

Donal7, interesting piece. I never considered that plants inside the window might be a problem. There are plenty inside mine.

As far as I can see, there is usually some commotion before a bird hits a pane. As in, when things are going smoothly, they seem to be able to avoid it. But if there is a loud noise, or a cat comes along, and they all scatter, there is an increased risk that one of them will hit a window, or at least glance off it.

Jim Martin

rediguana wrote: »

Two or three birds per week are crashing into my windows. It's getting better now that the swallows are going though.

The latest casualty was this robin -> http://bit.ly/WxAo5 this morning. After he hit the window, he lay on his back on the ground, looking like he was on the way out. I went out to him and he wasn't able to fly properly, he tried hopping but he couldn't support himself and kept falling over. Sad sight.

Anyway, I put a soft t-shirt in a shoe box and put the little guy in it to recuperate. After twenty minutes or so he was standing up alert. I put the box outside and opened it.

Still took him the bones of a half an hour before he flew off though.

It's hard to be too optimistic about his future though...

Injured Robin Pic -> http://bit.ly/WxAo5

Some friends of mine had the same problem, they've got large ceiling to floor windows and they stuck small (about 1" square) adhesive red squares in the middle of each window and they are very effective.