Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I maintain several bird feeders and a bird bath to attract the widest possible variety of birds. In the year that I have lived in this house, I have seen many birds that I have only ever heard before, and some that I have not been able to attract elsewhere in the same region.

To keep birds from crashing into my sliding glass doors (which is the only place in this house I can see feeding birds), I have attached 10 crash-resistors; hawk decals, sun catchers, waving-in-the-breeze prismatic strips, you know the stuff. I can barely see any birds for all the attachments!

Alas, today I had a fatality. The second in six months. It broke my heart. Is there anything I can do to stop this? I feel terrible, since I am attracting the birds here, then they crash into the glass. If I add any more decals, etc, I won't be able to see the birds. I know I'm not supposed to stop feeding the birds once I start. Should I move the feeders/bath to a place safer for the birds, but where I will not be able to see them feed?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanx!
Patricia

Are the attachments on the inside or outside of the glass doors? That will make a difference. Outside decals are easier for the birds to see.

For large glass windows, a mesh netting could be attached on the outside of the windows (which is what the local wildlife rehabilitation center did for their windows). For sliding glass doors, that might not work. What about putting up screen doors in front of the glass doors? Or netting over the door that doesn't open (which would not really interfere with your viewing the birds). Or a combination of a screen door (for the door that opens) and netting over the other one?

Hope this gives you a few ideas.

>>I maintain several bird feeders and a bird bath to attract the widest possible variety of birds. In the year that I have lived in this house, I have seen many birds that I have only ever heard before, and some that I have not been able to attract elsewhere in the same region.
>>
>>To keep birds from crashing into my sliding glass doors (which is the only place in this house I can see feeding birds), I have attached 10 crash-resistors; hawk decals, sun catchers, waving-in-the-breeze prismatic strips, you know the stuff. I can barely see any birds for all the attachments!
>>
>>Alas, today I had a fatality. The second in six months. It broke my heart. Is there anything I can do to stop this? I feel terrible, since I am attracting the birds here, then they crash into the glass. If I add any more decals, etc, I won't be able to see the birds. I know I'm not supposed to stop feeding the birds once I start. Should I move the feeders/bath to a place safer for the birds, but where I will not be able to see them feed?
>>
>>Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanx!
>>Patricia
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Canarymom

Finches: Melanie, Fritz, Casey, Sandi, Bunkie, and Sarah
Canary: Paulie
Budgies: Sammy, Curaco, and Pablo
Cockatiels: Elmo, Andy, Cleo, and Marley
And
My Rainbow Bridge Flock who are now singing in that other World

All of the attachments are on the outside, and the prismatic strips and sun catchers even wave in the breeze!

I could probably attach screen material to the glass. That might work. They never crash into the screen door, probably because there's no reflection there.

Thanks for the help!

Instead of opening the vertical blinds all the way across, I'm only turing them so that the blind is actually still all the way across the sliding glass door, but the slats are opened so that I can see out, but the birds see the vertical lines.

It took six months to experiment with the decals, I'll see how long this lasts. I know that I can see the vertical lines when I'm on the bird's side of the glass. Hopefully they will too.