Ask The Naturalist

Have a robin or cardinal flying into and pecking at your window?

What do you do if a bird has flown into your window?

Have a robin or cardinal flying into and pecking at your window?

A bird, perhaps a cardinal or a robin, is insistently pecking and flying at one of your windows, starting early in the morning and perhaps continuing intermittently throughout the day. Does this sound familiar? Although this behavior seems odd, it's a very common complaint, especially in the springtime. Don't worry -- the bird is not trying to get into your house nor has it gone entirely crazy.

Male cardinals and robins are most known for this behavior, although females and other species also do it. The bird is seeing its own reflection in the window, and interpreting it as an interloper or competitor in its territory. In springtime, when birds are establishing territories in preparation for nesting and breeding, they have little tolerance for rival birds in the vicinity. They will diligently peck and fly at the "rival" bird they see in the window, in a futile attempt to drive it off. The bird will return again and again, only to find the intruder still there!

The problematic reflection is on the outside surface of the window, so changes made inside the house will be useless. The only way to dissuade the bird is to dull, break up or eliminate the reflection on the exterior surface of the window. Spray the window with glass-wax (fake snow), tape up newspaper, cardboard or similar material over the window, put up screening, or drape half-inch-mesh garden netting in front of the window. Leave the material up for at least two or three weeks. Remember to put the material on the outside of the window.

After a few weeks, the bird should get out of the habit of finding a "rival" at that location. The sooner you eliminate the reflection, the easier it will be to break the habit. If you've noticed the bird using a favorite perch or two while watching the window, try removing those perches, or blocking access to them temporarily. If you have a large house with many wide expanses of plate glass, you are may have a correspondingly large problem - especially if the bird has already developed the habit of going from window to window, finding its reflection at each one. But usually, the bird will have a "favorite" window; try your countermeasures there first.

The bird does not usually injure itself seriously, but may expend a large amount of energy defending against nonexistent intruders. Fortunately, the behavior is usually short-lived, and disappears when the bird begins nesting and caring for young. However, a few stubborn birds persist throughout the spring and summer; it seems to be an individual aberration. You may go years without a problem before a bird suddenly starts acting "bird-brained." It may stop as suddenly as it began.

What do you do if a bird has flown into your window?

Naturalists at the New Hampshire Audubon receive many calls about birds that have struck glass windows and been stunned, injured or killed.

The best remedy is prevention. Birds fly into windows because they don't know the windows are there. The reflections of woods and sky on glass look - to a bird - like woods and sky. The key to preventing this deadly misperception is to break up the reflections. During the day, pulling down the window shades or closing the blinds, especially if they are white, can make it more difficult for birds to see reflections in the glass. Window screens on the outside will also make the glass less reflective.

Anything placed on the outside surface of the window will help break up the misleading reflections. Try stickers, streamers, or hawk silhouettes. The NH Audubon Nature Store sells inexpensive vinyl hawk silhouettes with an adhesive back. Mount these on the outside of windows where birds most commonly strike - look for "feather marks" left on windows to find the best spots. Predator silhouettes mounted on the inside of windows will have little effect - it is not the shape that deflects the birds, but the birds' realization that the window is a physical barrier. Some bird supply stores now have decals available that are visible to the birds but less so to humans so they are not as obvious as the vinyl silhouettes which are usually black in color. If you prefer something less "permanent," use soap, glasswax, or fake snow to create a design on the outside of the window or patio door for a few weeks. Hanging ribbons will serve the same purpose as will stripes made of removable tape. Use 1-inch wide tape or ribbon and place the vertical stripes every four inches.

Installing indoor-outdoor blinds on the outside of the windows will create an effective physical barrier. A "curtain" of plastic garden netting - the kind with meshes of about an inch or less - draped several inches in front of the window will also help break up reflections, as well as physically deflecting birds.

If you find that many of your bird strikes take place during the summer near your feeder it may be best to discontinue feeding until the fall or try a different location for the feeders.

Sometimes birds strike windows because they are startled and temporarily disoriented by the sudden appearance of a predator such as a hawk or a cat near a feeder. Moving your feeders further from dangerous windows will help prevent some strikes.

Occasionally, despite your precautions, a bird strikes a window and falls to the ground. Even if it appears dead, the bird may only be stunned. Carefully place the bird in a box with a lid and keep it in a quiet location. Every half hour, check the box by bringing it outdoors and removing the lid.

If the bird flies away, rejoice; otherwise wait a bit longer. If, after three hours, the bird has not flown away, or has tried, but cannot, you'll need to contact a wildlife rehabilitator. NH Audubon can refer you to one in your area, or call Maria Colby at the Wings of Dawn Bird Sanctuary at 603-428-3723.

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