Most of us care about wildlife and would do a lot to protect it. Protecting birds of America is about more than donating to charities or volunteering, however. In fact, it starts at home. The link between bird fatalities and the windows on domestic properties have been well established, and there are plenty of things than you can do about it. Did you know that around 1 billion birds die every year due to window strikes in this country alone?
Window Strikes and Why They Happen
It isn’t really known why a window strike happens. However, one popular school of thought is that birds are unable to see the glass because of its transparency. This is particularly true because windows often face doors or other windows, making bids believe that there is a through passage for them. Reflections also play a part, it seems, when the environment is reflected in a window, it makes it look as if it is a safe, wooded or garden area.
Preventing Window Strikes
There are a number of things that you can do to prevent a window strike from happening. Let’s take a look at some of the options:
- Removing a window in full, which is the least practical and popular option.
- Covering the window up with boards or cardboard. This is also not very practical, however, because it ruins your view. You may want to try storm screens or shade cloth instead, which makes your windows less transparent and reflective.
- Placing obstacles and silhouettes around. This will stop birds from getting too close to your window in the first place. You could, for instance, put a bird feeder or a tree in front of your window, although you do have to make sure that the feeder is far away from the window enough to stop the birds from trying to approach it by hitting the window. Silhouettes and statues also seem to work to some degree, as they seem to intimidate birds, particularly if you use owl or hawk figures.
You can also work together with the birds, however. In fact, most homeowners feel that window strikes are so uncommon that it doesn’t feel necessary to change the entire appearance of their view by redecorating the garden or putting trees in the way. There is a happy medium as well, however. You can simply put stickers on your window, which means they become a lot less transparent. They also stop some of the reflections. Two options are available to you:
- Fun and funky stickers that enhance the overall look of your home. You can also swap these around quite regularly, for instance, by putting up winter snowflakes or spring flowers, or holiday pictures in the summer. Or, you can use predatory bird images, again intimidating the other birds in the area.
- Stickers that are nearly invisible to humans, but highly visible to birds. These come in lots of different shapes and sizes.
Key, however, is that you do something to prevent birds from hitting your windows. If you find that it is a very common occurrence, you may want to consider moving things around in your garden so that whatever it is they are trying to get to is no longer near the window.
