Birds hitting windows

[b1schmor]

Hello birders,

hopefully somebody can help. I was watching my hummingbird feeder today and unfortunately, I witnessed a male chase a female right into my living room window. Is there anything I can do to alleviate this problem? Something I can put on the windows so the birds don't continue to see the reflection? I moved the feeders to another area of the house so this doesn't happen again, but now I have a number of hummingbirds frantically looking for the feeders in the original spot.

Thanks,
Brent Schmor
Harrison Mills

[Gord]

Brent

Your story brought to mind a friend of mine who has lots of hummers at his place. He was having the same problem and stretched a fine mesh net across the window that was near the feeder and being a problem for window strikes. The net was strung very tightly and was made of stiff material as not entangle birds. It seemed to work. You could see through it but it was a little distracting (but worth it to protect the birds)

I wonder about putting those stickers on the window so the birds can see it and not think they can fly through it especially if in a panic flying away from something.

Maybe someone else has some thoughts.

Good luck!

[JeffOver]

Hi Brent,
I used to have a lot of problems with birds hitting the window, especially pine siskins. However, I went to the Wild Bird Habitat Store and bought some black and white window decals. You can get different kinds--hummingbirds, chickadees. I put them on the outside of the window and since then my problem has been signficantly reduced, although there are still occasional collisions that I hear (maybe once every two months on average, just going by the last two months). So the decals might also be an idea--they don't look bad either. Hopefully the hummingbirds find the new place.
--JeffOver

[Dave]

Hi Brent,

I have heard (I think Sibley's website) of the idea of marking your windows on the outside or inside with yellow highlighter. If you do a fine grid pattern, apparently it is fairly invisible to our eyes, but stands out to our avian friends.

I have never tried it out. I am trying to attract birds to our new home, and have secured a few regular patrons, but do not have near the numbers we used to have in our old location. Needless to say, no need to highlighter testing yet....

Dave

[b1schmor]

Thanks Dave, Jeff, and Gord for the suggestions,

I think I will try to find some of those decals and see if that works.

Brent

[tmanson]

Hi Brent: Interestingly, and equally disappointly, we had the same thing happen about a week and a half ago. A male Rufous Hummingbird hit one of our large windows by the hummingbird feeder, and was killled instantly. Pauline got a bit of a fright because she was lying on a lawn chair underneath the feeder, and it landed right on top of her!!
We also have those hawk decals on our windows, and one was only about a metre away from the point of impact. I do, however, agree, that, on the whole, they have decreased the number of bird-window collisions, so I think it's still worth it.
Ultimately, it's one of those decisions about attracting birds to our dwellings with food, and having to deal with the odd collision. It's obviously beneficial to we humans, as we get to see birds close up. I also read an article recently that talked about increased breeding success of birds patronizing feeders, so, hopefully, it is of net benefit to them.
I wonder what the incidence of overwintering Anna's Hummingbirds would be in B.C., without feeders being left out, and even heated over the winter months? Thor

Thor Manson
Hope, B.C.