Crazy bluebirds

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John Dongas

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Mar 19, 2024, 3:08:56 PM3/19/24
to IBET - Illinois Thoughts
This the second year in a row that a male bluebird -and now his mate are attacking their reflection on my back porch window. I have several boxes up and I always get one, rarely two, pair nest on my property in Homer Glen. I do provide dried mealworms. The bluebirds are quite tame and allow my approach within a foot or two as long as I’m on my side of the glass. Some people have suggested putting an opaque covering on the outside of the glass. This seems rather drastic. (Hate to ruin the view)
I was wondering whether others have had similar issues and may have found practical solutions.
I fear that they are wasting so much energy on chasing the “intruder” that they might reduce their reproductive success. An alternative explanation is they may be watching too much cable news and believe the”intruders” may have criminal propensities.
John Dongas, Will County
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Annette Prince

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Mar 20, 2024, 9:44:52 AM3/20/24
to John Dongas, IBET - Illinois Thoughts
Hi John-
It isn't drastic, if you are protecting a bird from a collision or wasting its energy to put protections on your windows!
You can temporarily soap the outside of the window - smearing dish or bar soap - to blur any reflections the bird might see. (Washing it off after breeding season -your windows will be nice and clean!) 
Adding a window film on the outside with a pattern that disrupts the reflective image would help.  
A permanent or temporary application of CollidEscape - a static cling perforated film - would give the outside of the window a non-reflective and solid appearance but give you total visibility out of the window from the inside and be very effective.  The CollidEscape film can be any color or printed image you want and could be pulled off following breeding season if you don't want to keep it in place - with no damage to your windows.  https://www.collidescape.org/
Prevent birds from hitting windows! Collidescape offers guaranteed and high-performance solutions to prevent or reduce accidental bird/window strikes.

The other alternative I used on a kitchen window a cardinal was attacking because he saw his reflection - is to hang windsocks/streamers/ribbons/cords across the outside of the window.  They don't obstruct your view out of the window but move around in front of the glass and keep the bird from seeing an uninterrupted reflection on the window.  
The cardinal saw the streamers, stopped looking at the reflections and moved on!
Acopian Bird Savers sell a simple line of hanging cords that fit your window and don't impact your view out.   

Annette Prince
Director
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors



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From: ilb...@googlegroups.com <ilb...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John Dongas <madz...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 2:08 PM
To: IBET - Illinois Thoughts <ilb...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [IBET] Crazy bluebirds
 
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