A bird flew into my window.

[propita]

I mean INTO the window. The window being closed at the time.

I was at the computer and heard a huge BOOM, then silence. I got up, opened the front door, and saw a pigeon fly off, losing lots of those little soft feathers. I looked at my window and saw a circular smudge with a bit of blood.

What the hell was that bird doing flying INTO a window? What, did it not see the house sitting there?

Anybody else have this happen or know why a bird would do this?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Maybe it saw its reflection and thought it was another bird.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I really have no idea why they would do that, I hope it's okay. Did anyone else immediately start singing "come to my window" when they read the thread title? Just me?

 

[propita]

Well, at least the bird didn't try to "crawl inside" and "wait by the light of the moon."


And I'm not sure how it could see a reflection. The mark left and the sound both imply it came at a pretty good speed. Stupid bird!

 

[M'Sharak]

I mean INTO the window. The window being closed at the time.

I was at the computer and heard a huge BOOM, then silence. I got up, opened the front door, and saw a pigeon fly off, losing lots of those little soft feathers. I looked at my window and saw a circular smudge with a bit of blood.

What the hell was that bird doing flying INTO a window? What, did it not see the house sitting there?

Anybody else have this happen or know why a bird would do this?

Is there another window in the same room, on an opposite or adjacent wall, or a doorway through which another window can be seen?

What can happen is that the bird sees daylight on the other side of a darker area, doesn't see that there's a glass barrier, and thinks the room is simply a space which it can fly through. Just closing a window blind or door might be all it takes; hanging something easily-visible in the center of the window may also discourage bird/window collisions.

Edit:

See also:
http://eartheasy.com/blog/2010/02/9-ways-to-help-birds-avoid-window-collisions/

 

[trekkiedane]

^[ETA:Seems I was a bit late with this:]

What the hell was that bird doing flying INTO a window? What, did it not see the house sitting there?

Sure it saw the house -but the thing about windows is that they're -transparent! -Birds don't know about glass, you see, and that's why most places with large windows have silhouettes of birds of prey glued onto them; it scares away other birds from the transparent areas

I've only had that experience once -and had to go out and kill the poor thing as it had a broken wing from the impact

 

[Finn]

Sure it saw the house -but the thing about windows is that they're -transparent! -Birds don't know about glass, you see, and that's why most places with large windows have silhouettes of birds of prey glued onto them; it scares away other birds from the transparent areas

I've never seen those silhouettes

 

[trekkiedane]

^Hmm... see the link M'Sharak provided

Obviously it has to do with the quality of the glass; in certain climates it is more normal to have tinted glass -which a bird might see as impervious.

 

[Finn]

^You said most places with big windows have those....yet I haven't seen one

 

[Captain Ice]

I really have no idea why they would do that, I hope it's okay. Did anyone else immediately start singing "come to my window" when they read the thread title? Just me?

I didn't start singing come to my window, but the first thought that came to my mind was that this sounded just like the Windex commercials.

propita, were the blinds on the window that the bird flew into open or closed? Are there windows on any of the others walls in the same room that had open blinds/drapes? As M'Sharak pointed out, if the bird can see daylight through it, then it doesn't know that the surface is impervious.

Most outside windows here are tinted anymore, so I don't hear about this happening much, but it does happen from time to time.

 

[trekkiedane]

^You said most places with big windows have those....yet I haven't seen one

Might be a geographical/cultural thing then... We didn't use to have those here -but only a few years after I noticed it spreading through Germany, I also noticed it appearing up here.

And I didn't mean just 'big windows', but giant windows, like whole façades made out of glass!

 

[scotpens]

Maybe this was a warning of things to come?

Birds don't know about glass, you see, and that's why most places with large windows have silhouettes of birds of prey glued onto them; it scares away other birds from the transparent areas

I've never seen those silhouettes

I've neither seen nor heard of such a thing. It sounds like something you'd find in England. Everyone knows the Brits care more about animals than they do about people.

 

[Avon]

i estimate hundreds of birds have killed themselves on my parents house massive windows. luckily its always tiny birds, reckon a seagull might do some damage. should suggest the silhouette thing. never heard of it before.

 

[trekkiedane]

/.../ should suggest the silhouette thing.

It is a low-cost thing to do - and even simpler than regularly having to pick up dead birds.

Maybe this was a warning of things to come?

Isn't birds flying into window-panes a sign of the apocalypse?


And here I am, thinking the 2013-apocalypse being about zombies

I've neither seen nor heard of such a thing. It sounds like something you'd find in England. Everyone knows the Brits care more about animals than they do about people.

Or maybe the Brits don't like going to places where the view is of a nice garden filled with dead and dying birds

 

[Naira]

A not-so-smart pigeon flew into a window during one of my classes back at the University. The classroom was very quiet at the time so the noise seemed too loud. I remember actually seeing the bird sliding down the window - maybe it fainted or something?

Another time, when I was doing my MSc and had an office, another pigeon flew in from the open window. The whole wall was covered in windows and they were all open except from a small narrow one on the far right side of the wall. Imagine where did the pigeon try to exit from for a couple of times before finally getting out.

 

[propita]

To answer the repeated questions, there are four double-hung windows symmetrically across the front of my house, two in the bedroom and two in the living room. All have shades between the panes. The bedroom shades were fully covering the windows and are blackout shades, so no light would be going through, had the room light been on. What's visible is the white shade as seen through a windowscreen. The upper living room shades are partially open to let some light in through the drapes.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

As already pointed out, birds are unable to see glass and the concept of something being transparent and solid at the same time is something they don't know. The only transparent medium they usually encounter is air.

While in hot persuit of an insect, a bird can sometimes hit a window even if you have curtains or blinds. As they don't see the pane, they believe they have enough space left to maneuvre.

Especially small birds often try to pass through the gaps in blinds as if they were twigs.


These bird-of-prey silhouettes we Germans use on public buildings and other big glass panes have over the years proved to not work as well as we had hoped. Some birds believe where another bird "flies" they can fly as well and crash into the pane. Others don't recognize the birds of prey as such (a falcon and a dove are surprisingly similar if viewed from below). Others again ignore the silhouettes because they are the wrong species of predator (a species that hunts only doves will be ignored by sparrows).

There is a new invention, however, which looks quite promising. It's called birdpen. You use it to draw a crisscross pattern (or whatever you like) on the window pane. The pen's ink is invisible for humans (sometimes, at the right angle you can see a slight blur) but it reflects UV light and therefore is very visible to birds. This way they can see the obstacle and stop flying into it.

I just had a look and it appears that neither the silhouettes nor the birdpen are available at Amazon.com, but you can get the silhouettes at amazon.co.uk (British) and the birdpen at Amazon.de (German).
silhouettes: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bird-silhou..._1_4?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1359620452&sr=1-4
birdpen: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B006W92TKW/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 (currently out of stock)
If you need help with ordering in German, I'll gladly help you as soon as it's in stock again.

 

[KimMH]

National Geographic for kids magazine had cutouts to trace and put on windows for just that. My parents assured us kids no birds had flown into our windows and the silhouettes weren't necessary. No matter, we pasted owls, hawks and such onto every window in the house!

 

[Mooch]

I didn't know birds flying into windows was so uncommon as to be thread-worthy.

 

[Kirby]

Back in college (Colorado State) most of the dorms had glass hallways that separated the wings of the the dorms. Birds crash into those windows all too frequently because the could just see right through to the other side.