It happened AGAIN! - Page 2

Alan · #26 (**permalink**) 31-05-2006, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eeyore

yeah, but I'm anybody's

Yeah but you don't know the meaning of the proverb yet!

Mark43 · #27 (**permalink**) 31-05-2006, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan

Yeah but you don't know the meaning of the proverb yet!

But i do and i'm going to tell him

Alan · #28 (**permalink**) 31-05-2006, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark43

But i do and i'm going to tell him

Lol....Mark, your doing a grand job in Jonny's place!!!

Yes I do know, but I'll leave it up to someone else to tell you both!

Wild-Woman · #29 (**permalink**) 31-05-2006, 01:43 PM

Me-wash windows. Hate housework in any case. Think you're right henrya. The doors are fairly new with special glass that is meant to reflect out some of the sunlight.Haven't had any more strikes yet so I'm hoping the curtains are helping. It's a bit like sitting in a hide all day though! ww

Tornado · #30 (**permalink**) 01-06-2006, 07:53 AM

Spoke too sooon about the silhouettes. A juvenile Starling hit the window yesterday evening, it was dazed but fortunately not injured. I'm going to have to have a rethink about the window situation. Last season it wasn't just the downstairs windows that had strikes either.

Maybe I'll just have to use the same method as WW and see how that fairs.

Wild-Woman · #31 (**permalink**) 01-06-2006, 09:32 AM

Now I'm Desperate. The curtains are pulled. No birds strikes there. So what happens, a baby goldfinch has just crashed into my kitchen window and died. I'm so upset.Why is this suddenly happening?? I've resorted now to pulling a line across my window and have hung some old towels over it. It looks awful. But I don't know what to do next.I need some major help here.ww

henrya · #32 (**permalink**) 01-06-2006, 10:29 AM

You need to reduce the reflectiveness of the windows. As a temporary measure, try sticking small squares of masking tape on the outside of the window - how many will depend on the size of the window and guesswork! You just want to stop the window being a mirror. It won't look very elegant but it may help. But of course you're never going to stop the panicked bird trying to escape a predator.

One used to be able to by stuff called shading paint for greenhouses. You paint it on the outside and it dries opaque white but goes much clearer when it gets wet. You can paint it on thickly or thinly, and you can scrub it off in the winter when the greenhouse needs all the light it can get. I'm not suggesting you cover all your windows with it but you might like to experiment with painting small patches (again, on the outside) or see what effect diluting the stuff has. as I said earlier, you just need to stop the windows acting like mirrors.

Can't think of anything else at present, I'm afraid.

henrya

Wild-Woman · #33 (**permalink**) 01-06-2006, 11:02 AM

Thank you.I'll try anything to stop these wasteful deaths. I have got some masking tape so i'll give it a try. Do you think that it's inexperience on the part of the young? The starling and todays goldfinch were juveniles. They died but the adult goldie yesterday was just dazed.ww

henrya · #34 (**permalink**) 01-06-2006, 11:39 AM

I expect it's partly inexperience, but modern big windows are such good mirrors that they can catch out any bird. Bring back lattice panes! Good luck with the masking tape - I hope it works.

henrya

eeyore · #35 (**permalink**) 01-06-2006, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Thank you.I'll try anything to stop these wasteful deaths.

Could you break up the flightline towards the windows, in the short term you could use some kind of screening or wind breaks, and in the longer term some planting.

This wouldnt stop the birds hitting the windows completely but it would stop them screaming in at supersonic speeds, both giving them more time to take evasive action if they realise their mistake, and reducing the chance of them hurting themselves seriously.

May · #36 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006, 09:26 AM

I'm so very sorry to hear this has happened again.

Wild-Woman · #37 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006, 11:12 AM

Fingers crossed, the masking tape may be working. Looks like I'm waiting for an air raid though. Henrya's idea seems to have been a good one............so far. Julie ww

eeyore · #38 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006, 11:51 AM

Venetian blinds behind the glass work well ( they are a so, and so to cean tho)

Tornado · #39 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006, 11:57 AM

Glad its not just me who hates cleanin them!!!
I always wondered why we've never had any strikes on our front windows, thanks for that observation Eeyore, maybe I should invest in some for the offending kitchen window.
Tornado
www.wildrossendale.co.uk

May · #40 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006, 01:21 PM

I'm glad it's working so far.
Could it be that they can see light through the windows and think it's a clear fly through? Our old neighbors had a bird come through their (open) window as you could see another window clearly.

henrya · #41 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006, 02:30 PM

Quote
Venetian blinds behind the glass work well ( they are a so, and so to cean tho)
Endquote

Venetian blinds are good to stop fly-through strikes, but less effective at preventing angled strikes, when the mirror effect takes over. Everything helps, though. Life is too short to wipe venetian blinds, by the way.

henrya

May · #42 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 03:39 PM

There are even more baby sparrows in our garden now (and such teeny little ones) .. they come along to the patio to feed with the adults and in the last fifteen minutes three babies have bumped into the french windows from a distance of no more than two feet away. When the adults go, they panic and go too .. unfortunately in the wrong direction. I've seen them all fly off again so *touch wood* we've been pretty lucky.

I have though, hung tea towels from the curtain rail and have the ironing board towel draped right next to the doors .. it looks frightful but that isn't the nicest sound in the world.

Ooh hang on, a small flock has just descended .. fingers crossed they depart wthout a bump.

Wild-Woman · #43 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 03:53 PM

Glad to hear that the sparrow chicks are ok. I was talking to a neighbour the other day and they have had the exact same thing happen with their doors and windows.It just makes you wonder how many poor birds meet their end by crashing into them. Nationally the numbers could be horrific.ww

May · #44 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Glad to hear that the sparrow chicks are ok. I was talking to a neighbour the other day and they have had the exact same thing happen with their doors and windows.It just makes you wonder how many poor birds meet their end by crashing into them. Nationally the numbers could be horrific.ww

Oh I know .. it doesn't bear thinking about. I suppose our sparrow babes are flying off because they come at the window and doors from such a short distance really. I've seen the sheer speed at which the swifts are careening about outside just now, it's terrifying. If they hit something, goodness, that would be just horrific.

The first bump was because I had the window open a crack again (mis-judged flight to the feeder) and the second two were "Wait for me .. boomp!" incidents. I was just marvelling over the sheer smallness (not quite a word but it fits!) of a sparrow on the patio when the adults took flight .. this little 'un went in precisely the wrong direction.

Wild-Woman · #45 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 04:10 PM

I've just read something unbelievable.In America 100 million birds are lost annually because of the city skyscrapers. The mirrored glass is to blame and environmentalists are fighting with architects to get it changed. If you go to 'bird strikes in america' it goes onto news with all the info. Sorry don't know what the website is. Apparently it is having terrible affects on their migratory birds. ww

May · #46 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 08:46 PM

That's so tragic

Lincs Yellowbelly · #47 (**permalink**) 03-09-2006, 01:34 PM

Old thread i know, but i've just buried the first ever bird i've seen dead after flying into a window, it was a juv Goldfinch! we often have Dove shaped patterns on the windows, but none ever die!

Diane E · #48 (**permalink**) 03-09-2006, 01:49 PM

So sorry to hear that Lincs Yellowbelly.

Really hope its a one-off.

eeyore · #49 (**permalink**) 03-09-2006, 01:55 PM

reading the thread ,It seems that gold finches are particularly prone to this , do you think there is something in their behaviour or vision that causes it ?

Lincs Yellowbelly · #50 (**permalink**) 03-09-2006, 02:37 PM

Maybe it's more to do with the fact that more and more people are now feeding niger seed for them, whereas in the past they probably wouldn't have spent a great deal of time in built up areas and don't know the danger of windows, now they are common in towns, they'll probably learn the error in a few years