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My big window decals were actually useless for birds
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?
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tara_palmer2mo agoMost Upvoted
Oh man, I had almost the exact same thing happen but with a cardinal and a sun catcher I'd hung in the window. Thought it was a great bird deterrent until I heard that thump and saw the poor thing staggering around on the deck. I switched to those little dot decals you're supposed to space four inches apart, but I got lazy and only put them in a few random spots. That was a year ago and I've only had one more crash since then, so maybe the spacing thing actually matters.
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david_henderson62mo ago
Dang, you know what, that actually makes a lot of sense. I always figured those decal things were kinda gimmicky and you just had to slap a few on there to look like you were trying. But hearing that you only had one crash after getting lazy with the spacing kinda makes me rethink it. I used to think the exact opposite, like birds would just avoid anything stuck to glass no matter what. But your experience really drives it home that the spacing is key. I might actually buy a pack and take the time to do it right now.
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lee_grant971mo ago
Oh man that dot spacing thing is wild, I've been wondering about that myself. So if you only put them in random spots and still had only one crash, do you think the birds are learning over time or is it really just the spacing that's doing the work? Like are they hitting the glass and then remembering not to come back, or is that UV strip stuff actually making the whole window visible to them from the start? I've got a big sliding door too and I'm trying to figure out if I should go with the dots or try those strips you mentioned.
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