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Q. We have a problem with a bird this spring pecking and tapping on two first floor windows of our house, incessantly. The female cardinal walks back and forth along the window ledge pecking on the glass for long periods or she flies up from the ground into the glass or over from a tree into the glass, almost as if she is trying to “see” inside. She begins early in the morning and wakes me. Then the activity continues on and off all day for periods of time. This is at least the fourth spring in our 20 years of living here for this behavior to occur. During other springs the bird(s), which were not cardinals, but robins etc have pecked on upper-story bedroom windows. Their excreted saliva made a mess on the windows and lasted for weeks until the pattern changed.
Do you know what causes this to happen -- other than perhaps the bird seeing its reflection in the glass? We do not use screens because we do not open windows due to my allergies. Is there a way to control this pesky behavior?
A. I’m no expert on animal behavior but I have seen birds do what they are doing to you. Usually it has to do with either looking for something to eat or attracting a mate. Wood peckers going after carpenter bee larva or other insect food sources can destroy wood siding and trim and I have even heard of them attacking aluminum siding putting up the predictable racket.
I have a friend who when she parked her car at her house a bird, always the same one it seemed, would go after her side mirror attacking it ferociously. This went on, I think, until she changed cars. Her new car has a side mirror also but the bird seems unaffected by it and leaves it alone. Explaining that is well beyond me.
There is a whole industry surrounding bird behavior control and it seems to center on dissuading them from landing of roof tops or on parapets of buildings or window ledges leaving ugly, unsanitary deposits of guano. Bird droppings can spread transmittable diseases including West Nile Virus, Avian Flu, Bird Flu and St. Louis Encephalitis to name a few.
Spike strips are products of a companies like Bird-X, Bird B Gone and Nixalite and they also offer a variety of bird dissuaders that include electronic sound generator devices to sticky gels that birds don’t like to put their feet on as methods for bird control.
The products I like the best are sort of a modern extension of the old fashioned scare crow devices gardeners and farmers would place in their fields hoping to frighten away birds wanting to feed on the crops and that’s called visual scare devices. They range from electronic strobe light contraptions to holographic shiny round owl head things that you hang in the area you want to clear and the birds think it’s a scary predator.
I don’t think you need to invest too much money in the devices aimed at wholesale pigeon control. Bird X’s website has a questionaire you can fill out describing your problem from which they will suggest some of their products as a solution. And after perusing the products offered for sale you may be able to improvise something from things you have around the house and still get the job done. I prefer non-lethal methods of control-- after all most of the time we try to atract birds to our yards. I’m sure you don’t want to hurt them. You just want them to go away.