Under Attack!

[Lor]

Hi I'm completely new to forums of any kind so please bear with me. I live in Sevenoaks in Kent and our house has been under very LOUD attack from crows during the last month or so. They bang on the windows especially in the morning and wind up the dogs. It's SO LOUD and seriously aggressive and really unnerving if you're in the house on your own....(although it's OK once you know what's making the noise) All the paintwork on the upper windows is beginning to peel off. Does anyone know why they're doing it? what could I do to help them?.....I don't know if it's different ones or the same one....anyway we call her/it Sheryl !
thanks
Lor

[witham]

Is yours a new house or has a tree been taken down that she might have previously nested or hatched out in, they often return to the same site each year and it's a bit of a shock to come back and see bricks where there used to be trees as in some areas, or have you recently moved there and the previous owner used to feed them, although alot of birds do seem to go daft at their reflections seeing it as a threat and will attack especially at this time of year

[Lor]

Thanks....we've been here for 26 years, and I always feed the birds during winter but not all year round. I'm guessing it must just be attacking her reflection....we had a similar thing happen last year with a Blackbird on another window...(it's not as if they're bright shiny clean either!) Hopefully she will grow out of the habit before she tears the windowsills to bits with her claws..Thanks for your help,....anyone else got any ideas?
Lor

[Kayleigh]

Hi and welcome to the site.

You could hang something in the window to deter them..
It does sound like they are attacking their own reflections..

[ron1863]

Hi Lor and welcome to WAB. Kayleigh's answer sounds about right. Good Luck

[m1.carson]

Hi,

There's been another post about this, as usual I can't remember which, but it was their reflection they were after, the two remedies were to hang an outline of predators in the windows or make sure the windows don't reflect from outside.

Max.

[Lor]

Thanks all......I'll try that solution and let you know what happens in the next few days.....thanks for your help
Lor

[witham]

Hope everything works and after all it's a very good excuse not to clean your windows as I often tell my husband

[J.Ousey]

I am having the same problem and have just read several messages about it on the forum. The diagnosis seems to be that the crows are indeed attacking their own reflections. However, in our case the crows are not only attacking the windows but also trying to peck their way through a plastic cat flap window which cannot have any reflection, which is rather alarming. We have put tape over it and they are pecking it off! The one solution I read which seems to be the most helpful is that crows are very sensitive to smell and that one can spray an obnoxious odour - suggested aluminium ammomium sulphate - which apparently is present in several pet deterrant sprays. So this is what I am going to try now. Good luck to all who have this problem. Any other successful answers / solutions gratefully received.

[Lor]

Thanks J. I'll give that a try too.....our attacks are happening at the upstairs windows, but I'll give it a go...we can do without it at 5.15am!