Watched a cardinal hit the glass at my kid's school and it changed how I see my own house

It was during a parent-teacher conference at Lincoln Elementary. We were in the library, and a bright red cardinal flew straight into the big window. It made this awful thud and just dropped. The teacher didn't even flinch, she just said 'happens all the time here.' They had these little hawk silhouette stickers on the glass, but they were old and faded. Seeing that bird just stunned on the ground, and the fact the staff was so used to it, really got to me. I went home and looked at my own big living room window, the one that reflects the maple tree. I never even thought about it before. I put up some dots of white paint on the outside of the glass that weekend, just spaced a few inches apart in a grid. It's not pretty, but I haven't had a single strike since. Has anyone tried something low-tech like paint or soap marks? Do the birds really avoid it, or did I just get lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia_webb2mo ago

The teacher didn't even flinch" is the most chilling part of that whole story.

grace41918d ago

Tbh "the teacher didn't even flinch" just shows how numb some of them get. I remember reading somewhere that a lot of teachers see so much crazy stuff day in and day out that they literally shut down their emotions to cope. Like my old chemistry teacher once saw a kid throw a chair across the room and just kept writing on the board. Kinda sad when you think about it, they're probably desensitized from years of dealing with chaos and not getting paid enough to care.

jana_henderson522mo ago

What kind of stuff did you see in school, @olivia_webb? My teachers just looked tired all the time...