We have a large open plan lounge/dinner with 4 large windows, 2 in the front and 2 in the back. It used to have horrible wooden single glazed "Georgian" windows but last year we had them replaced with double glazed upvc and since then we keep getting birds flying into the glass. Usually the birds recover after a bit of a rest but I have just picked up a young female chaffinch which has sadly died, I think its neck is broken. We assumed that the birds were looking straight through the room and didnt see the glass but I also notice that the double glazed windows reflect, which the old ones didnt so perhaps the birds are confused by their reflection. Whatever the cause, its very distressing and I wondered if anybody has any suggestions as to what we could do to stop it (apart from leaving the windows open!). Jim.
Wild birds and double glazing
- Thread starter JandP
- Start date
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What they see is their reflection and if they are territorial like Robins, will attack. A lot of the fatalities are usually young birds who aren't yet street savvy :O(
What the answer is Jim, I don't know, but agree that it's sad. Birds have enough problems surviving as it is. Block paving/tarmaccing gardens reduces their feeding areas. What I can't understand is how slug pellets are still allowed to be sold, they have a devasting affect on thrushes, hedgehogs etc.
The only suggestion I can make is if you have a look at the B.T.O. or R.S.P.B. sites and see if it's mentioned.
I see in the press this week that the worry is over starlings whose numbers have crashed dramatically by something like 50%.
To some people it might not seem like that but in the winters we get a lot of continental starlings here from afar as Russia but how many do we see now in summer? Not many. Apparently they are still thriving in places like America and Australia where the settlers took them.
What the answer is Jim, I don't know, but agree that it's sad. Birds have enough problems surviving as it is. Block paving/tarmaccing gardens reduces their feeding areas. What I can't understand is how slug pellets are still allowed to be sold, they have a devasting affect on thrushes, hedgehogs etc.
The only suggestion I can make is if you have a look at the B.T.O. or R.S.P.B. sites and see if it's mentioned.
I see in the press this week that the worry is over starlings whose numbers have crashed dramatically by something like 50%.
To some people it might not seem like that but in the winters we get a lot of continental starlings here from afar as Russia but how many do we see now in summer? Not many. Apparently they are still thriving in places like America and Australia where the settlers took them.
I had a bird fly into one of my bedroom windows yesterday morning. I did'nt then think about it until I went outside the front door, and there laid a little female sparrow, dead.
This happens to us quite a lot, I don't know whether it's being in seventies house, the windows being larger. Or whether the speed in which the birds fly about, chasing each other, these accidents happen.
Nevertheless, I couldn't leave her laying there, so my husband dug yet another small hole in the garden for her burial:O(
This happens to us quite a lot, I don't know whether it's being in seventies house, the windows being larger. Or whether the speed in which the birds fly about, chasing each other, these accidents happen.
Nevertheless, I couldn't leave her laying there, so my husband dug yet another small hole in the garden for her burial:O(
Hi J&P,
Go to www.birdfood.co.uk/rspb
click on Online Shop (on the left side of the screen)
click Hygiene and Safety
click Window Strikes
There you will find an informative article on window strikes by birds, why they do it and how to prevent it.
By the way, if you like feeding the birds, this is a great site for top quality bird seed, feeders etc. etc. We buy our bird seed, nuts etc. from this safe website and have done for many years. The site is full of information.
Go to www.birdfood.co.uk/rspb
click on Online Shop (on the left side of the screen)
click Hygiene and Safety
click Window Strikes
There you will find an informative article on window strikes by birds, why they do it and how to prevent it.
By the way, if you like feeding the birds, this is a great site for top quality bird seed, feeders etc. etc. We buy our bird seed, nuts etc. from this safe website and have done for many years. The site is full of information.
Hi Wendy, I am sure you did the right thing with the sparrow but you have to be careful. I found a young robin outside our patio doors a few weeks ago lying on its back with its feet in the air and looking as dead as a Dodo. It was a cold and wet evening so I picked it up and brought it inside and after a few minutes it began to show signs of life. Pauline used to work in a pet shop which sold and bred parrots and small cage birds and a trick of the trade to revive a bird in these circumstances is for a suitably equiped lady to place the bird in her bosom. Pauline has done this many times and the robin soon revived. Because it was so late in the evening and very cold and wet and because the bird was so young we put it in a box and kept it overnight in a quiet, dark place. This is another essential thing to do if you find an injured bird. Dont worry about trying to give it food or water, just pop it into a cardboard box and keep it quiet and dark so that it can recover from the shock. By the next morning the bird had completely recovered and we let him go.
Before I get Lord B or some other conservationist on my back let me say that the pet shop sold only hand reared birds bred in this country and had nothing to do with the trade in wild caught birds which I think is obscene. I know the whole subject of keeping birds as pets is very contoversial, birds were meant to fly not live in a cage, but the shop owner had a very good reputation for looking after the welfare of her birds and most of them were out of their cages when the shop was open. Jim.
Before I get Lord B or some other conservationist on my back let me say that the pet shop sold only hand reared birds bred in this country and had nothing to do with the trade in wild caught birds which I think is obscene. I know the whole subject of keeping birds as pets is very contoversial, birds were meant to fly not live in a cage, but the shop owner had a very good reputation for looking after the welfare of her birds and most of them were out of their cages when the shop was open. Jim.
Thanks meals on wheels (may I call you MoW?) I will have a look.Hi J&P,
Go to www.birdfood.co.uk/rspb
click on Online Shop (on the left side of the screen)
click Hygiene and Safety
click Window Strikes
There you will find an informative article on window strikes by birds, why they do it and how to prevent it.
By the way, if you like feeding the birds, this is a great site for top quality bird seed, feeders etc. etc. We buy our bird seed, nuts etc. from this safe website and have done for many years. The site is full of information.
There you are you see! You can find anything you want on here! Jim
I have stickers on my conservatory windows as well as blinds so fortunately haven't had any problems. My main concern about putting stickers of birds of prey on the windows is you might deter the birds from your garden altogether and maybe drive them into someone elses windows.
Has anyone else noticed how house sparrows are no longer as common as they were 30 years ago :O( and tree sparrows I haven't seen for years.
Has anyone else noticed how house sparrows are no longer as common as they were 30 years ago :O( and tree sparrows I haven't seen for years.
Birds - I could have rung one's neck yesterday. Having returned from two weeks in Dorset the caravan was parked on the drive with the door open as my wife and self were unloading it. Lo and behold in flew a Robin, did his business on the front seat and then flew out. Words failed us but if we had caught the little so and so there would be no telling what would have happened to it.
It's a good job you never harmed a feather on his little head cos I would have saved up all my dogdumps, travelled to Bridgend, and emptied them all over your caravan seats :O)Birds - I could have rung one's neck yesterday. Having returned from two weeks in Dorset the caravan was parked on the drive with the door open as my wife and self were unloading it. Lo and behold in flew a Robin, did his business on the front seat and then flew out. Words failed us but if we had caught the little so and so there would be no telling what would have happened to it.
Could have been worse Colin, it could have been a cat like the bu**ers that come in our garden and do their business, kill the birds on the bird table and drive the dogs (and me) mad. Jim.
J&P
We live in a clearing in a wood, and have the same problems with Wood pigeons only it can be the window that comes of worse, I feel the birds see a mirror image of were they have just flown from in the window and attempt to fly there,You should be in a room when they do it, talk about Adrenalin being Brown!!
David
We live in a clearing in a wood, and have the same problems with Wood pigeons only it can be the window that comes of worse, I feel the birds see a mirror image of were they have just flown from in the window and attempt to fly there,You should be in a room when they do it, talk about Adrenalin being Brown!!
David
We have numerouse birds/wildlife come to our garden and bird strikes are common, we tried the stick on things to let them know but not succesful, by chance we went to vertical blinds and for the very large windows it is almost succesful. As for coming into the house we use to have a fox come into the lounge give us a look then wait outside for its dinner ,a white squirrel also use to wait on doorstep ,wood pigeon walked into the bedroom and crapped every two feet on its way there,grey squirrel sitting on the kitichen worktop digging into a potted plant. Wife says' its all part of living in the country ,she doent have to clear up after the badgers.
We have venetian blinds in our conservatory which are always down but open to try and deflect some of the heat. Our garden is south facing and even in January it can get to 70c if the sun shines. It would be interesting to know what Jim has in his windows.
J&P
This little sparrow was beyond hope!
It must have been about three hours later I opened the front door and there she laid. :O(
By the stance of her head she had certainly taken a hit. :O(
This little sparrow was beyond hope!
It must have been about three hours later I opened the front door and there she laid. :O(
By the stance of her head she had certainly taken a hit. :O(
I am sure your sparrow was dead Wendy and so was the finch I picked up today but I did make the mistake of picking up a "dead" greenfinch once at work and taking it into the tea room. It recovered after a few minutes then nearly killed itself on the window trying to get out. JimJ&P
This little sparrow was beyond hope!
It must have been about three hours later I opened the front door and there she laid. :O(
By the stance of her head she had certainly taken a hit. :O(
Since you mention it Lord B, we have nothing at the windows during the day. Its interesting to read what you say about your conservatory. We are thinking of getting one but we also face south at the back and we were wondering if it would be too hot. As I said before, you can find out anything on here! Jim.We have venetian blinds in our conservatory which are always down but open to try and deflect some of the heat. Our garden is south facing and even in January it can get to 70c if the sun shines. It would be interesting to know what Jim has in his windows.
It will get hot with the doors closed Jim but while at home with the doors open, blinds down and maybe a fan on it's o.k. This time of year I leave the small windows open all the time.We have venetian blinds in our conservatory which are always down but open to try and deflect some of the heat. Our garden is south facing and even in January it can get to 70c if the sun shines. It would be interesting to know what Jim has in his windows.
It comes into its own later in the year, like late autumn or spring, when the sun shines. It soon warms up. Even in the middle of winter it can be comfortable when the suns out.
I think all the missing starlings and house sparrows are nesting under my roof - it's a cacophany up there! What with that and the ring dove hoo hoo hooing every morning, it drives you batty. (Fortunately I love birds so we don't discourage them even though they wake us up).
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