heywood on 12/10/2011 at 00:09
I had a never ending problem with Downy woodpeckers and Chickadees trying to nest on the back side of my house, so I feel your pain.
In your case, the first thing I would do is lobby your mother to stop feeding the birds. Since that's not likely, the second thing is to suggest moving her feeders. Ironically, placing the feeders closer to the windows is usually better. The birds are more apt to see the window and there's less room to gather speed before impact. Or move the feeders further away or to another side of the house.
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
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).
I don't think this is true. Birds rarely fly into small windows, let alone little holes. Besides, the point of the stickers is to deter the birds from the nearby area, not to block the window. For that to work, the birds have to recognize the silhouette. For some people it works and for some it just doesn't. When it works, you only need one silhouette per large window and it doesn't really matter if it fades since it's the shape that counts. I don't know why it works for some but not others, but it seems to work better on public buildings with large open spaces behind the window. It may be because the silhouette stands out instead of being lost in the visual clutter of the room, but that's just a guess.
Quote:
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.
To prevent that, hang something a bit more durable that you can anchor from the top and bottom. It needs to have enough freedom of movement to have the desired effect but constrained so that it doesn't whip around in the wind, bang into the house, etc.
CDs are ugly, but probably work great because they're reflective. My idea was to cut hawk silhouettes out of plywood and mount them on a pair of thin stainless steel wires strung vertically about 6 inches apart - loosely anchored by eyelets at both ends. I was going to paint them black but adorn the outward facing side with some bright, reflective tape used to make fishing lures. I thought that might look a little more subtle than colorful streamers or CDs. Never got around to it though so I can't say it will work.
Finally, there are window coatings and films for this but it sounds like your parents have an architecturally pleasing house they don't want to ruin.
PeeperStorm on 12/10/2011 at 01:11
How about just getting one of those owl statues that they sell at garden shops? Put it on the roof over the windows.
Quote:
...find the impossible!!
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNmi9qpMAM)
Do the impossible
See the invisible
Roh! Roh!
Fight the powah!
Touch the untouchable
Break the unbreakable
Roh! Roh!
Fight the powah!Matthew on 12/10/2011 at 09:33
Who the hell do you think you are??
gunsmoke on 12/10/2011 at 14:29
I would just tint the windows with the solar reflective (outward facing side being tinted, inward being reflective) film they sell. It isn't super cheap, but it is effective. I used it on a house like yours out at Buckeye Lake 10 years ago, and it is still doing the trick.
Aerothorn on 14/10/2011 at 00:03
The films I've looked at previously tend to have the effect of lowering the amount of light that comes in through the windows, and given that the house is mostly lit by natural light I'm not allowed to do anything that would reduce it. Are any of these films non-light-inhibiting?
Muzman on 14/10/2011 at 06:05
All films would be light inhibiting to some degree. Just like glass and netting. The question is would anyone notice (in the case of gunsmoke's reflective tint; probably yes)
I have seen films/stickers that reflect mainly infra red to make windows look more solid to birds. Dunno how invisible they are though (fairly, but not entirely)
