Stuck a piece of tape on my big window last fall and the strikes stopped

Used to have a cardinal that hit my living room window every single morning for two weeks straight. Tried those fancy decals from the pet store but they kept peeling off in the rain. Finally just put a strip of standard masking tape vertically down the center of the glass last October. Haven't had one bird strike since then, even through winter. Anybody else find that simple tape works better than the expensive stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant.richard1mo ago

My dad put a single strip of duct tape on his porch window back in 2018 and it's still working, no bird hits at all. @casey_barnes I think the trick might be keeping it on the outside where the reflection breaks up, and not moving it around once the birds learn to avoid that spot. Simple fixes like tape or a piece of string often outlast the fancy stuff because they just block the clear glass that birds think is open sky.

casey_barnes1mo ago

So the strikes stopped" - yeah I'm gonna push back on this one a bit. I tried the tape trick for about three months and it worked at first but then the birds just got used to it. Started hearing thumps again after maybe 6 or 7 weeks. Could be the angle of the sun changing or something but the tape didn't hold up for me long term. What did work was putting those sticky window clings on the outside not the inside, they stayed put through rain and snow and the birds actually avoided that spot for over a year now.