Aerothorn on 11/10/2011 at 19:09
This is crazy specific, but maybe someone here has an answer.
Long story short, my folks live in a house that overlooks a marsh where lots of birds live. The person who build this house was either an idiot or just not particularly concerned about widelife, because it has an insane number of gigantic windows, including one wall that's mostly glass that overlooks the marsh. To make matters worse, my mother does TURNS of bird-feeding in the area around the house. The result is dozens of bird injuries and deaths a year from crashing into our windows.
After doing a lot of research into various prevention methods, I decided the best thing to do was to use crop netting raised above the windows the "trampoline" the birds off with minimal damage (and if they can see the netting, even better). The problem is that many of the windows are so big that, if they hit towards the center of the window, there is simply too much give in the netting.
It occured to me that the perfect solution were if I could get some sort of round, window-attachable solid object to act as a support strut in the center of the window/net. Ideally this would be transparent in order to sell the folks on it. Does an ideal material for such a task exist, and where would I get it?
nickie on 11/10/2011 at 19:33
Now this was the sort of thing I used to do - find the impossible!!
What about a scarecrow?
Does anyone know what it is that specifically attracts birds to windows? If it's the gleam then maybe a filter film might prevent that.
demagogue on 11/10/2011 at 19:40
Having seen lots of urban bird wiring in NYC & DC, I've seen them use support struts. They're usually thin poles attached to the wall, and you'd have like 4 or so coming from the sides or corners that hold the netting out like a circus tent. A quick google search has them being sold as part of bird netting kits, so they're kind of made for this job. But I understand if we're talking about really big windows they might not be the best thing... Or maybe they could still work if you're creative about it. They're just the "textbook" solution I think.
Edit: looking at the pics on the google image search, it looks like another route is having the netting arc around the window in a semi-circle. They make arched bird net frames. The issue again might be how big the windows are, but I saw pretty big ones laying over lines of crops that might work on their side for big windows, or you could make your own to fit the window size.
june gloom on 11/10/2011 at 19:58
Why not just split the bigger windows up into panes?
Or, alternately, put in stained glass to break up the transparent glass a bit.
st.patrick on 11/10/2011 at 20:13
How about some stickers with silhouettes of birds of prey? Should keep the small ones away, but I guess you wouldn't want that sort of thing on the window panes.
Medlar on 11/10/2011 at 21:30
Old CD's and DVD's hung in chains about a 1/3 of the way in from each side of each window. Make sure the chain can move ie: not flat on the glass. It will work but looks bizarre.
Aerothorn on 11/10/2011 at 22:07
This gets into the "my hands are tied" bit.
The windows aren't HUMONGOUS, just sizable, and there are eight of them on this wall (it's an a frame, so two sets of 3 across and one above. Unfortunately, my parents (who care less for the birds than I) have said that modifying the superstructure of the house by attaching things like struts it not allowed. I'll look at the frames, though!
The problem with the stickers is that they fade; this area gets a lot of sun and they have to be replaced every 6 months. What's worse, you can't leave anything bigger than a 4-by-3 inch hole between stickers or the birds will "fly through it" (they can't see the glass because of the way their eyes work). It ends up becoming INCREDIBLY expensive.
As for hanging things like CDs: we originally did this (with "scarecrow ribbon" or whatever it's called) but we can get a LOT of wind coming off the ocean past the marsh, so these things inevitably get ripped down :(
Basically I'm trying to create a long-term solution, because A. my parents aren't going to maintain any system that requires continual maintenance, and B. you can bet your ass that I'm getting out of this joint as soon as I find a job.
Ghostly Apparition on 11/10/2011 at 23:37
or a film which is mirrored on the outside. if they fly toward it wouldn't they veer away thinking they are gonna hit another bird? or even slightly mirrored.
