The Reasons Birds Hit Windows and How to Prevent It
Thump! That sickening sound can only mean another bird has flown into one of your windows. Birds cannot see glass, especially if it is reflecting the nearby habitat or sky. These reflections do not register as such to a bird. This is why millions of birds die or are injured each year in collisions with glass windows in homes and office buildings.
Scientific studies about bird collisions dispel some common myths about how to prevent these incidents, shining a spotlight on exciting projects across the world that are making a real difference.
Here are some suggested options for making your windows less deadly for the birds. Please note, the only way to truly prevent birds from hitting your windows is to create a physical barrier (such as a screen or crop netting) between the birds and the glass surface. Other strategies and products can only visually deter birds from flying into the glass surface.
Tsem Rinpoche
Why Birds Hit Windows—and How You Can Help Prevent It
May 5, 2017
“For birds, glass windows are worse than invisible.” By reflecting foliage or sky, they look like inviting places to fly into. And because the sheer number of windows is so great, their toll on birds is huge. Up to about 1 billion birds die from window strikes in the U.S. each year, according to a 2014 study.
The good news is that you “can greatly reduce the danger” your home’s windows pose to birds with some simple remedies, according to Christine Sheppard, who directs the Bird Collisions Program of the American Bird Conservancy. The group offers extensive information on preventing collisions on its website. The Fatal Light Awareness Program also offers great information on preventing bird collisions.
What happens to birds that hit windows? Sadly, the bird often dies, even when it is only temporarily stunned and manages to fly away. Many times these birds die later from internal bleeding or bruising, especially on the brain. Daniel Klem of Muhlenberg College has researched this issue since the 1970s. He writes, “Glass is an indiscriminate killer that takes the fit as well as the unfit of a species’ population.”
Why Birds Collide with Windows
There are two main types of window collisions: daytime and nighttime. In daylight, birds crash into windows “because they see reflections of vegetation” or see through the glass to potted plants or vegetation on the other side. At night, nocturnal migrants (including most songbirds) crash because they fly into lighted windows. Some of these nighttime collisions are due to chance, but much more often the nocturnal migrants are lured to their deaths by the lights. For reasons not entirely understood, lights divert nocturnal migrants from their original path, especially in low-ceiling or foggy conditions. In the lighted area, they mill about, sometimes colliding with one another or the lighted structure. The Fatal Light Awareness Program, based in Toronto, Canada, has much more about this problem.
There’s one additional reason: birds sometimes see their reflection in a window and attack it. This happens most frequently in the spring when territoriality is high. Although it can be annoying to the homeowner, it’s seldom a threat to the bird’s survival. Most of the remedies suggested below for window strikes will also help solve the problem of a bird attacking its reflection.
How to Safeguard Your Windows for Birds
Start by identifying dangerous windows, including large picture windows, paired windows at right angles to each other, or windows with feeders outside. Go outside and look at your windows from a bird’s point of view. If you see branches or sky reflected in or visible through the glass, that’s what the birds will see, too. Past recommendations about safe distances for feeders outside windows are no longer thought to be valid, Sheppard says. “If you’ve got windows near a bird feeder, you should make them bird friendly and don’t worry about how far away they are.”
“Try some of the following ideas to make your windows safer.” To deter small birds, vertical markings on windows need to be spaced no more than 4 inches apart and horizontal markings no more than 2 inches apart across the entire window. (If hummingbirds are a problem, the spacing should be reduced to a 2-inch by 2-inch grid.) All marking techniques should be applied to the outside of the window.
- Tempera paint or soap. Mark the outside of the window with soap or tempera paint, which is inexpensive and long lasting. You can use either a grid pattern no more than 4 inches by 2 inches (see above), or get creative and paint patterns or artwork on your window.
- Decals. Put decals, stickers, sun catchers, mylar strips, masking tape, or other objects (even sticky notes) on the outside surface of the window. These are only effective when spaced very closely (see above). “Note that hawk silhouettes do little to deter birds.” Remember: placing just one or two window stickers on a large window is not going to prevent collisions—they must cover most of the glass with the spaces between too narrow for birds to fly through.
- ABC BirdTape. This long-lasting tape offers an easier way to apply the correct spacing of dots across your window. More about ABC BirdTape.
- Acopian Bird Savers. Also known as “zen curtains,” these closely spaced ropes hang down over windows. They do the work of tape or decals but are easier to install and can be aesthetically pleasing. You can order them to fit your windows or make your own.
- Screens. Installing mosquito screens over your windows is very effective, as long as they are on the outside of the window and cover the entire surface.
- Netting. Cover the glass on the outside with netting at least 3 inches from the glass, taut enough to bounce birds off before they hit. Small-mesh netting (around 5/8″ or 1.6 cm) is best, so that birds don’t get their heads or bodies entangled but will bounce off unharmed. You can mount the netting on a frame, such as a storm-window frame, for easy installation and removal.
- One-way transparent film. Products such as Collidescape permit people on the inside to see out, but makes the window appear opaque on the outside. They can reduce the amount of light that comes in your window (this can also reduce your cooling costs), according to Sheppard.
If you’re building a new home or remodelling, the following ideas can also be good alternatives:
- Install external shutters and keep them closed when you’re not in the room or taking advantage of the light or view. (These can be huge energy savers, too!)
- Install external sun shades or awnings on windows, to block the reflection of sunlight. Remote controlled shades are available.
- On new construction or when putting in new windows, consider windows that have the screen on the entire outside of the glass.
- Add interior vertical blinds and keep the slats only half open.
- Avoid visual paths to sky and greenery. Bright windows on the opposite wall from your picture window may give the illusion of an open path to the other side. Closing a window shade or a door between rooms can sometimes solve this situation.
How to Help a Window Collision Victim
If you find a bird dazed from a window collision, examine it for external injuries. If the wings are both held properly, neither dangling, and the eyes seem normal, see if it can perch in a branch unassisted. If so, leave it to recover on its own.
If the bird has a noticeable injury, get it to a wildlife rehabilitator as quickly as possible. Broken bones usually need proper attention within minutes or hours to heal properly without surgery. Use this online directory to find a rehabber near you.
Meanwhile, place it in a dark container such as a shoebox, and leave it somewhere quiet, out of reach of pets and other predators, for 15 minutes. If the weather is extremely cold, you may need to take it inside, but don’t keep the bird too warm. Do not try to give it food and water, and resist handling it. The darkness will calm the bird while it revives, which should occur within a few minutes unless it is seriously injured. Do not open the box indoors to check on it or it might escape into your house and be hard to get back out!
Take the box outside every 15 minutes or so and open it—if the bird flies off, that’s that! If it doesn’t recover in a couple of hours, take it to a wildlife rehabilitator. Remember that, technically, it is illegal to handle a migratory bird without a permit, and medically helping an injured bird requires training, so your job is just to transport the bird to a rehabilitator.
The above information and pictures are extracted from: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved from: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/why-birds-hit-windows-and-how-you-can-help-prevent-it/
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This is an interesting post that helps us to understand the bird’s perspective in relations to windows of buildings, especially high rise that could cause danger to it. Often birds will fly into the windows and due to the high impact, they could suffer damaging injuries and death. Reading this article gave us ways to deter birds from hitting your windows. Very informative with the ways to stop birds flying into our windows. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this article with us to show us how we can protect the birds to save them from killing themselves by crashing onto the window. It is for us to cultivate compassion and kindness towards other beings. 👍😍
It is nice to have big windows for our house. But sometimes, having big windows are dangerous to animals. For example, birds.
Birds are not able to differentiate between real things and reflection. Big windows show reflections of the trees and plants. Birds like to rest and hide on trees when they see the reflection on the window, they will fly into it and injure or kill themselves.
This is a nice article to teach us how to prevent birds from injuring themselves. We have to learn to live with each other in harmony. We don’t owe everything here on the planet. Animals are also a resident, we have to try our way to make the environment suitable and safe for them to live too.
When birds hit our windows, it can be deadly or it might cause injuries or because another animal killed them while they were stunned. Sad…. we can help them and stop birds from flying into our windows. Sometimes windows are dark, they can reflect the outdoor space and the phenomena of birds hitting the window will happen. Reading this article gave us ways to deter birds from hitting your windows. Very informative with the ways to stop birds flying into our windows.
Thank you Rinpoche for this wonderful sharing.
Wow! I quite embarrassed to admit it, but we’ve all done it, run headlong into a window or sliding glass door that we just didn’t see. People usually escape with only a bruised ego. but when birds smack into windows, the results can be deadly. Very interesting to read and know why Birds Hit Window and How we can help to prevent it.
Through this article I found more, In fact, read on researchers captured that more then 800 million birds die in window collisions all over the world in a year and hoping to hear more awareness and searchers to find solutions to prevent and safeguard bird-window collisions .
Thank you for sharing and teaching and glad to understand something new.
This is an interesting post that helps us to understand the bird’s perspective in relations to windows of buildings, especially high rise that could cause danger to it. Often birds will fly into the windows and due to the high impact, they could suffer damaging injuries and death. During the designing stage of construction, the designers should take these information into consideration so that the birds can fly safely around the buildings.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this useful information with us and it is always a form of kindness to be considerate to others.
Thank you, Rinpoche for sharing this article with us to show us how we can protect the birds to save them from killing themselves by crashing onto the window. It is for us to cultivate compassion and kindness towards other beings.
How many people will actually take the time out to protect birds in the wild? A large number of birds lost their lives for nothing and totally avoidable if we do a little extra of work on our side. It is a chance for us to expand our care to even animals that are not our pets.
Many cities in the worlds have implemented laws to make their buildings bird-friendly to save the birds that migrate through their cities. I hope we can expand this kind of preventive measures that saves the animals around us and not just birds.