I was sitting here in the office when I heard a bird hit the living room window. Went out and found Casper standing looking at a female American goldfinch on the ground with her wings slightly spread. I picked her up, talked to her (she only blinked slowly as if struggling to keep her eyes open, and did not reply), and finally set her feet carefully on a short branch near the feeder in one of the oak trees. She just looked at me, dozily.
Keirsten the mother cat came over and I led her away. Then I came in and watched the tree through the binoculars.
The dazed finch sat in the crook between the branch and the tree for a very long time, eventually making her way further up the branch until her pale yellow and grey feathers could hardly be seen behind wavy green leaves. Maybe that is her mate at the feeder, wondering what the hell's wrong with his partner. After a half hour and probably longer, she finally flew off.
I had just been thinking that those suncatchers I spent 50 bucks on were working pretty well. And maybe they have improved things, but not well enough. Now what?
Hawk silhouette?
ReplyDeleteThat's been suggested, but I don't want to scare them away from the feeder or the oak trees.
ReplyDeleteI'm still considering tying foil-paper balls to strings and hanging them from the soffits or eavestroughs outside the window. If I can just think of a way to do it that won't mark up the eavestroughs, scrape off the paint or whatever.
Someone else mentioned those vertical slats that hang free; you can see through them when they're turned open rather than closed, and the birds should be able to see the windows clearly from outside. I hate to block off my nice big window at all, but may have to go that route.
I watched on that show 'Dragon's Den' maybe last season that there was a kid who was starting his own company designing an opaque silloutte window cling. I think it was almost transparent but apparently it worked.... the kids I believe was from somewhere here in SK. Wonder if you could find something like that!
ReplyDeletemaybe like something from this website:
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Leanne
The farmers around here hang old cd or dvd disks on string from a line suspended over their crops. The wind spins them and the flash of light off them keeps the birds away. Maybe you could try something like that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need to put something on the outside. I like the idea of the cd or dvd disks. Poor little birdies.
ReplyDelete