Friday, April 08, 2011

Bird+window strike death= changes

Howdee all.

Here we are settled in for a months stay in North Carolina in my Sickstas and Craigys side yard. Our Homeys back end sits between two big Hickory trees. Our bedroom window is facing the Hickory tree you see in this photo..back right.

I have a feeder on that tree..that’s where the flying squirrels have come in the past for nightly visits..no sighting this year. I did wake up the other evening when I heard something on the tree…I shined a flashlight and it was a cute little raccoon eating seed from the feeder. I didn’t want to encourage it so I shooed it away.IMG_0474This is our view from the other side of the Homey…our Patio and bird feeders set out..

This is where the Death occurred… My Sicksta discovered the dead White-throated Sparrow on our patio carpet, below our living room window. It was a beautiful bird…I felt terrible….

Homeys reflective windows are a problem …IMG_0467

We have birds pecking at them all the time…territorial disputes with unknown intruder..Birdchick talks about this in a recent 10000 birds post

Remember this one pecking at our window?

 

I don’t mind the pecking~so far none of the birds have blooded themselves or my window..I do mind a bird death…

So..I needed a solution..

I first read about this in a fellow birders blog…Hilke Breder mentioned she used soap on her sliding glass door.

Jeff doesn’t want anything that will stick on the window..It has a special finish that he is afraid might come off. So…I am hoping this works.

Soap lines..I can fill it in more if I find we are still having window strikes.

windows_001This is how it looks from the inside.

windows_003

Read more about preventing window strikes here at Sialis website.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions please let me know.

10 comments:

  1. That actually looks kind of cool. Hope it works for you. I see WALDO!!! and a morel mushroom too!

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  2. Hi Dawn, Your blog is great and the more I see of it, the more I think Motorhoming may be for wife and I one of these days. This place where you are now looks so inviting and comfortable. I also think it's neat that you are concerned about the birds enough to put the soap lines on the windows. A cool idea. Keep us posted and let us know how it works out, OK? Thank you for the photos and posts! John

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  3. My condolences. This solution actually looks pretty cool. Thanks for the idea as I also have dark windows on the new 5er and have at least one collide.

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  4. I wish there was a solution for the windows at the hospital where I work. Bird strikes are a real problem there with days where I find many dead birds on the ground.

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  5. Hi Dawn!
    We've had a few birds hit our dining room window as well, including one not too bright Cooper's Hawk trying to get a meal. No deaths...we put holographic stickers in every other panes, so far so good!

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  6. Let's hope your solution works.

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  7. Howdee all,

    so far no Birds have hit our windows..
    I did have to re-apply the soap lines after last nights rain.

    If this works..I think its a great solution for us and others.

    We can not adhere anything to the inside as it wont show thru to the reflective window...

    Jeff doesn't want anything on the outside that might damage the reflective window...so ...soap lines, if they work, will make us all happy!

    Take care..Happy Birding...
    No more Window strike bird deaths!

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  8. Hi Dawn,
    People over here use a cut out silhouette of a hawk shape and stick it on the inside of a window.

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  9. Good idea-You can make a bird spotting game out of it.When you want to point out a bird you can say grid-G-6 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I feel bad for birds too when they hit the glass.It happens some times-hope this works for you.

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  10. Phil...
    I have tried silhouettes..didnt work..so far the soap lines are working.

    Larry,
    Hee hee..You always crack me up..I will have to try that game!

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ok what do you really think?????