I used to think those little hawk silhouette stickers were the answer, but now I'm convinced they're mostly a waste of money

For a solid two years, I had a whole flock of those black static-cling hawk shapes on my big living room window in Austin. I figured spacing them out a bit was fine, and they looked better than a bunch of dots or tape. Then, about six months ago, I saw a cardinal bounce right off the glass between two of the stickers. It shook me up. I did some reading and found out that birds don't see those shapes as a solid barrier unless they're placed way closer together, like two inches apart max. I felt like a total fool. I took them all down that weekend and switched to using a white paint pen to draw a dense grid pattern. It's not as pretty, sure, but I haven't had a single strike since I made the change. It makes me wonder how many other people are just putting up decorations instead of actual protection. Has anyone else made a switch like this and been shocked by the difference it made?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.drew2mo ago

Actually, the spacing needs to be even tighter than two inches for most birds. More like four inches or less for the whole pattern.

jake_hall882mo ago

Yeah @lewis.drew is totally right, it's way tighter than people think. I tried the two-inch spacing last year and still had robins getting stuck. Switched to a four-inch grid with fishing line and it finally worked. The whole pattern really does need to be under that four-inch mark or they just brute force their way in.