I was out front Tuesday morning and heard a guy on his porch telling someone that window strikes are just natural selection. Meanwhile I've pulled three stunned finches from under my own windows this spring alone. Has anyone else dealt with a neighbor who won't even try putting up decals or screens?
I put up those UV reflective stickers on my big living room window about 6 months ago and still had 3 strikes. Last month I switched to a full window film that makes the glass visible to birds from 15 feet away and I haven't had a single hit since. Has anyone else noticed a big difference between spot treatments and full coverage solutions?
I put those bird strike prevention decals on my big living room window back in April, the ones that reflect UV light birds can see. Today a robin slammed into the glass right next to one of them, and I realized the decal has faded to almost clear. Are these things supposed to be replaced every season or did I just buy the wrong kind?
I was dead set against those window decals. Thought they looked tacky and blocked my view. Last Tuesday at my place near the park I got proven wrong. A little finch kept flying into the same spot on my sliding glass door over and over. By the sixth hit I felt like an idiot for being stubborn about looks. I stuck two of those UV reflective decals on there that afternoon and it hasn't happened since. Anybody else have to get smacked with reality before you finally tried the simple fix?
I tried using clear packing tape on my patio door last spring after a finch hit it hard. The tape left a nasty residue and only stayed up for about 3 weeks before peeling off in the sun. Then I switched to CollidEscape window film strips from a local bird store for $18. They've held on for 4 months now with zero peeling and no sticky cleanup. The finch came back twice but just bounced off the film and flew away fine. Has anyone else found a permanent solution that doesn't mess up the glass?
I put up one of those plastic hawk silhouettes near the big picture window last month after my third finch strike in a week. Turns out they actually fool real birds, I read a Cornell study that said they reduce strikes by up to 60 percent if placed right. Found that fact on the Audubon website while looking for DIY fixes. Anyone else have luck with decoys or did I just get lucky with my window placement?
I kept finding little dazed birds on my patio every morning (especially cardinals, they seemed really drawn to one specific pane). Everyone online swears by those feather silhouette decals, so I tried them for 2 weeks and zero change, I was so frustrated. I ended up grabbing a roll of frosted privacy window film from Home Depot for like 8 bucks and covered the bottom 3 feet of that window. It's been 6 weeks now and not a single tap, plus it still lets in light. Has anyone else had better luck with a solid surface cover than with the stickers?
For like 5 years I just taped strips of newspaper to my sliding glass door to try and stop birds from hitting it... worked okay I guess but looked terrible and my wife hated it. Finally last spring after a cedar waxwing hit the bay window in our living room I bought a roll of the ParrotLite gel decals for like $30 online and spaced them out proper according to the 4-inch rule. Has anyone else changed their method after one bad strike made them rethink everything?
After finding a dead goldfinch under my kitchen window for the third time last week, I finally measured and realized the feeder was only 2 feet from the glass when it should have been way farther, has anyone else made this mistake?
I tried all those expensive decals you see online. Butterflies, hawks, little dots. None of them did a thing. Birds kept hitting my big picture window at least once a week. Then my neighbor suggested I try that privacy window film you get at Lowes for like $15 a roll. The kind that makes the glass look frosted. Put it on the outside of the glass 3 months ago and haven't had a single strike since. The birds just see a solid surface now. Has anyone else had luck with the cheap stuff over the specialty products?
I was looking up something else on the Audubon website and found this stat about bird safe glass coatings. They tested it at a big building in Chicago and the UV reflective film dropped window strikes from like 30 a week to barely any. Has anyone here tried that film or the little dot decals, and did they work as well for you?
I was looking up ways to make my patio windows safer for birds and came across this study from the American Bird Conservancy. They tested different kinds of glass treatments and found that UV reflective coatings dropped window strikes by more than 60 percent. I always figured the little decals I put up were helping, but it turns out they barely make a dent compared to that coated glass. The tricky part is that most of us aren't going to replace all our windows just for this. But they also talked about external screens and netting which do a similar job for way less money. I'm thinking about trying a cheap netting setup on my worst window, the one that faces the feeder. Has anyone here used that see through screen stuff and noticed a difference?
She was dead set that birds were more scared of spider shapes than hawk silhouettes. I put a few on my big living room window last month after a finch hit it hard. Not a single strike since. Has anyone else tried something that sounds weird but actually works?
I keep seeing people slap those big bird of prey decals on windows thinking it'll scare off songbirds. But here's the thing from my backyard in Portland where I've had 12 strikes this year alone. Those hawk decals actually make smaller birds panic and fly faster into the glass because they're trying to escape a predator. Shouldn't we be using UV reflective stickers or feather curtains instead of pretending birds recognize a static silhouette as a threat? Anyone else notice this or am I overthinking it?
I had those big hawk silhouette stickers on my sliding glass door for like 3 years and felt so smug about it until I watched a finch smack right into the middle of one last Tuesday. Turns out birds don't see the shape from far away, they just see a dark blob and treat it like a gap. Anyone have luck with those UV reflective strips instead of these chunky decals?
I was reading this report from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and it said up to 1 billion birds die from window collisions every year in the U.S. alone. That number just hit me different because I've only ever thought about the occasional thump at my house. But now I'm wondering if those of us with feeders close to glass are making things worse or better. Anyone know if putting feeders super close to windows actually helps birds avoid the impact?
Turns out a single decal does nothing, but after I covered the whole glass in a grid pattern, I havent had a single strike since, has anyone else seen that big of a difference with spacing?
My neighbor Linda was out watering her petunias and I mentioned the hawk that keeps hitting my big living room window. She said "you know birds don't see glass the same way we do" and it just clicked. I had those cheap decals up for 3 years but they were faded and too spread out. I moved them closer together 2 days ago and haven't heard a single thump since. Has anyone else had luck with just rearranging what they already have?
Found out the hard way that birds will still smack into glass if you only put decals in the middle because they just fly at the empty corners instead, so now I've got a row of sticky dots every 4 inches across the whole thing what's a better pattern that actually works for songbirds in Ohio?
For about three years I just stuck random pieces of printer paper on my sliding glass door. It looked terrible but I figured it was enough. Then last spring I found a dead cedar waxwing under that same window and felt awful. I finally ordered some special translucent bird tape online for 12 bucks. Now I put vertical stripes four inches apart on the outside of the glass. The birds actually see it now and I have not had a single strike in 8 months. Has anyone else noticed a big difference after switching from DIY stuff to proper window decals?
My mom used to hang her bird feeder right on the window sill so she could watch them up close. Last spring I counted 8 strikes at her place in Albany versus maybe 2 at my house where the feeder is 30 feet away in the yard. She finally moved it after a finch knocked itself out on the glass. The birds see the feeder and just don't process the window at all when they're that close. Has anyone else noticed fewer strikes after moving feeders further from the house?
I read online about using reflective tape on windows to keep birds from hitting them, so I bought a roll of that 2-inch wide bird tape from the hardware store. I spent a whole Saturday afternoon cutting it into strips and carefully sticking them on my big living room window in Baltimore. Well, we had a stretch of 90 degree weather last week and the tape just started curling up and falling off. Now I have sticky residue all over the glass that took me an hour to clean off with rubbing alcohol. I learned the hard way that the cheap tape isn't meant for direct sunlight and heat. Has anyone found a brand of window decals or markers that actually stays put through a hot summer in this area?