Crazy bird attacking windows

[Tailgate]

I know he's just defending his territory, but we have a male cardinal who has been attacking windows at our house for the last 6 months..he's stepped up his efforts recently to the point where it is driving us crazy.

Bird War
Chapter 1: transparent decals designed to prevent bird strikes: clearly not working
Chapter 2: fake owl.. his response: 'what a hoot'
Chapter 3: 6 ft inflatable snake in the tree: just hissed him off

There have been 5 windows he has visited, but there is 1 that he seems to peck with a passion. I've got 50 bucks invested in the crap that won't work...is there anything that will? Ideas appreciated..

[audreyh1]

He is seeing his reflection and thinks there is a rival. So you'll have to eliminate the reflection temporarily. Cover the outside of the window?

[REWahoo]

Hang a couple of mirrors out in the yard away from your house. It may not stop him entirely but will give him some better targets to occupy his time.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Hang a couple of mirrors out in the yard away from your house. It may not stop him entirely but will give him some better targets to occupy his time.

Great idea. Accompany it with a looped recording of a male Cardinal's territorial call.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 He is seeing his reflection and thinks there is a rival. So you'll have to eliminate the reflection temporarily. Cover the outside of the window?

+1

Our Green Acres home we had them, bang, crash all day long. The windows, mirrors on my truck those nutty birds would bang heads for hours. They'd leave blood splatters all over the place. We tried all kinds of things to keep them away nothing really seemed to effective.

[travelover]

Currently I have a red bellied woodpecker that thinks that my aluminum gutters are his personal amplifier. Inside the house, it sounds like a jackhammer.

[Sarah in SC]

I found this, which mentions that your snake won't work, sorry.
Birds Attacking Windows

Says painters plastic might be the answer, at least until the end of breeding season.

[GrayHare]

A local homeowner reported success hanging a group of feathers in the window. To a bird, a pile of feathers represents an unhappy demise, such as by a hawk.

[Sunset]

We had this when visiting in FL, we thought it was cute.

[Sunset]

DW says dirty up your windows so the reflection is bad.
Perhaps he bangs at only certain spots, like along the ledge (ours in FL did), so you only need to muddy up a 8 inch strip of window.

[RoyDornoch]

we had success hanging a CD (the plastic compact disc kind) on a thread from a branch close to the window. It became the shiny object that kept the bird away.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoyDornoch we had success hanging a CD (the plastic compact disc kind) on a thread from a branch close to the window. It became the shiny object that kept the bird away.

I think that's a great idea. From what I recall your not going to stop the bird from beating it's face in. Best you can hope for is to allow it to it where it's more convenient for you.

We had a couple that would sit on a fence 10 feet away from the window and repetitively fly beak first in and crash. All day long! Started to get concerns about the thing eating as he was doing it most of the day. Of course when I saw all the blood splatters I figured the food wasn't that important.

[RoyDornoch]

a throwaway Banquet-type pie pan will also do the trick although the CDs are smaller. We've successfully used both. My wife tells me that the shiny object distracts the birds from seeing their reflection.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover Currently I have a red bellied woodpecker that thinks that my aluminum gutters are his personal amplifier. Inside the house, it sounds like a jackhammer.

It is really an unbelievable sound! The first time this happened to me, I ran out of the house because I thought someone was breaking in by destroying the roof.

For the woodpeckers, I found putting something along the edge of the gutter, so that the bird could not perch on the edge, stopped it. I also found they only liked a small section of gutter (in my case) so I could keep it minimal.

As for the OP, that's tough. Another suggestion would be to hang a screen, or netting in front of the window for a while.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover Currently I have a red bellied woodpecker that thinks that my aluminum gutters are his personal amplifier. Inside the house, it sounds like a jackhammer.

Just be glad he's drumming on metal, and not gouging a hole in wood or stucco.

Our gutters are also popular with their cousin the golden fronted woodpecker. It's only occasional, and seasonal.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Hang a couple of mirrors out in the yard away from your house. It may not stop him entirely but will give him some better targets to occupy his time.

That would probably work. Hard on the bird, but a good decoy.

[folivier]

If there are any trees or bushes with ripe berries they could be fermenting and if the birds are eating them....well, they shouldn't be flying under the influence.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Cover the outside of the window?

That might work--maybe the heat-shrinkable plastic used inside as poor man's double-paned windows would work for awhile if afffixed to the outside. IIRC, birds can see UV light which we can't, and maybe a plastic that is transparent to (our) visible light but opaque to UV light would let you see out while your bird friend wouldn't see a reflection.

[bjorn2bwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Hang a couple of mirrors out in the yard away from your house. It may not stop him entirely but will give him some better targets to occupy his time.

I'm thinking two mirrors facing each other......he'll think he is outnumbered.

[ivinsfan]

We have used the plastic removable window decals that some people use on various holidays...our was large bunnies and colorful easter eggs..it did work. Put them all over the window.