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Bird Advice


Yul Lose

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We live in a pretty rural area in north San Diego county on 10 acres. There are two live streams and lots of oaks and sycamores and wildlife. We’ve lived here for nearly 30 years and this is the first year we’ve ever had this happen. Every morning a couple of sparrows start flying from a perch near a couple of windows and fly into the window glass over and over. There is one that does it on the front of the house and one that does it on an alcove window on the living room on the back of the house. When the sun comes up they stop doing it. The one on the living room window has been at it now for about 30 minutes and about every 45 seconds to a minute it does it again. My wife has hung things in the window to see if she can get them to stop but they just keep it up. Any ideas?

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Just now, Choctaw Jack said:

Try putting an"x" of masking tape across the window until they realize the glass is there.

Shouldn't take very long

We did that and they still do it.

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13 minutes ago, Arkansas Jim 107095 said:

We have 3 windows high up on the back wall. Had the same problem with birds. Put a stuffed owl on the middle one’s ledge and bird problem vanished 

That’s a thought, thanks.

 

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That's all we need.

First a COVID-19 Pandemic. :(

Now kamikaze birds! :o

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Michigan Slim said:

They see a rival. Let them have a headache.

The one window is on a half bath just off of the laundry room and it is frosted so there’s no reflection for it to see. It’s kind of like a bird thumping competition every morning one bird hits their window and then the other bird hits its window over and over and over. My grandkids are here from Arizona and the youngest one, 6 years old thought there was somebody trying to break into the house the first morning that she was here when she heard it.

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Go to the hardware store and buy a roll of that non-sticky “mirrored” flag tape.  It’s like the plastic non-sticky white or yellow flag tape, but it’s made of Mylar (I think).


Get a string and attach several lengths of the mirror flag tape to the string, maybe a couple inches or so apart (as you think best) each (various lengths) as long as makes sense to you.  

 

Put a nail on either side of the window, and stretch the string across the window, leaving the flag tape to move in the breeze. That should interrupt the birds’ seeing their reflection in the glass and attacking “another bird” or thinking the window doesn’t exist.  They’ll probably stop after their “crash pattern” has been interrupted for a while.

 

I also use mirrored flag tape (2-3 strips) on a thin bamboo garden stick now and then to keep birds away from from places I don’t want them to be.

 

Cat Brules

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1 hour ago, Cat Brules said:

Go to the hardware store and buy a roll of that non-sticky “mirrored” flag tape.  It’s like the plastic non-sticky white or yellow flag tape, but it’s made of Mylar (I think).


Get a string and attach several lengths of the mirror flag tape to the string, maybe a couple inches or so apart (as you think best) each (various lengths) as long as makes sense to you.  

 

Put a nail on either side of the window, and stretch the string across the window, leaving the flag tape to move in the breeze. That should interrupt the birds’ seeing their reflection in the glass and attacking “another bird” or thinking the window doesn’t exist.  They’ll probably stop after their “crash pattern” has been interrupted for a while.

 

I also use mirrored flag tape (2-3 strips) on a thin bamboo garden stick now and then to keep birds away from from places I don’t want them to be.

 

Cat Brules

Tried that already. We had wood peckers pecking on the face of the shop and RV garage a few years ago and it worked but these two birds don’t even notice.

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We had that problem while we had bird feeders off our back deck.  Two things happen.  Even if the glass is frosted on the inside, there is a reflection from an angle and the bird sees the reflection of the trees and sky and tries to fly to that clear spot.  Of course, the window is still there and that kind of full speed collision is usually fatal.

 

If the bird can seek through from one side of the house to the other, the same thing happens, a high speed collision that's usually fatal.

 

The other thing that happens is that males see their reflection and will go to attack the other bird.  It's somewhat entertaining.  After awhile, the bird gets tired and stops.  After he gets his wind back, the cycle starts again.  They will also attack car mirrors.  Eventually, they will quit.

 

The fake owl may help.  We tried all sorts of things, but nothing really stopped it.  We stopped feeding the birds for other reasons, and that stopped 95%  of the bird strikes. 

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Yul, years ago I had a similar problem. The birds would hit the glass under the front overhang. As I watched I realized they were eating spiders. The webs were close to the glass so they would run into it. I hosed the area down and got rid of the webs and the little spiders and that was  that. No more birds hitting the glass.

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2 hours ago, Marshal Hangtree said:

Remind you of the Liberty Mutual Emu commercial?

Now that you mention it! 

I had a male cardinal fighting his reflection in my truck mirror for about three months a couple years ago. Not sure if he won or lost.....

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Howdy 

I have a large front window and a large back window and

I keep the curtains closed on the front.

If I open them birds try to fly thru. Outch.

Maybe check and see if the birds see a similar opening or path  at your house??

Best

CR

 

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On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 1:07 PM, Michigan Slim said:

Now that you mention it! 

I had a male cardinal fighting his reflection in my truck mirror for about three months a couple years ago. Not sure if he won or lost.....

 

We've had them pecking on vehicle mirrors too.

 

I think the Owl decoy sounds promising.

 

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When they are fighting their reflection, they are looking for an opening to peck.  They don't get much momentum.  Not matter what they do, that other bird is tough.  

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