Poor dumb birds.

January 4, 2008 8:36 AM

Is there anything that I can do to keep birds from flying into my office windows?

I work on the third floor of a four-story office building in an office park. They are the sorts of modern office buildings with large, reflective windows. For the past couple of days, there have been a ton of birds flying around outside (taking a pit stop on their flight south, maybe?), and at least four times I have witnessed one flying into my office window, and heard the accompanying awful dull thud. Is there anything that I can do to prevent this? I can't put up decals on the outside of my window, or do anything else from the outside, because I'm on the third floor (and the windows don't open). Suggestions that I contact the management company, owner of the office buildings, or my boss won't be helpful. I'm hoping there's something I can from the inside of my office, and that I can tell other people here about.

posted by amro to home & garden (12 comments total)

A bright light shining on the inside of the glass may help - it should make the window less reflective.

Sadly, without being able to do anything on the outside, you are pretty limited. Especially when trying to stop all of the windows in a 4 storey building getting walloped. Is there no way you can put one of those plastic owls or hawks on a ledge somewhere to encourage the birds to fly further from the building? Or in a tree outside?
posted by Brockles at 8:48 AM on January 4, 2008

The birds can't see the window because the light outdoors is reflecting from its surface, making it look like more outdoors. If you can't put anything on the outside of the window, maybe try putting some light-colored or Mylar cutout shapes on the window, in hopes that they'll be bright enough to reflect light from the inside of the glass? Or maybe some moving things light light-colored mobiles or strips of paper, to give the visual idea that there's motion going on?

The challenge is that you have to have something easier for the birds to see than the glare off the window.

If it's any consolation, I used to have a classroom that this happened to all the time. Usually the bird ended up all right, just really stunned. Sometimes it took them several minutes to 'wake up,' but they were all right except in one case. On the advice of a wildllife rehabilitator, we took to picking up stunned birds (with gloves, because they often have lice) and putting them in a shoebox lined with a small dishcloth. After an hour our so we would open the box outside and the bird would be standing up in the box like nothing happened. We'd put the box down and it would fly away after a couple minutes. The wildlife rehabilitator thought the box step was important, because the stunned bird would be an easy target for a predator while incapacitated. Otherwise you can just leave the birds where they fall and let nature take its course, I guess.
posted by Miko at 8:48 AM on January 4, 2008

If you can tape something on the inside of the window, make it the shape of a bird and use black paper. That worked for my family when we had a really deranged robin flying into our window multiple times a day.
posted by leesh at 8:57 AM on January 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh, and there may be helpful comments here.
posted by leesh at 8:59 AM on January 4, 2008

You can buy decals and put them up on the inside of your window. The Audubon Society also has some tips.
posted by rabinowitz at 9:42 AM on January 4, 2008

He can't shoot them because the window won't open. He can't put decals outside because the window won't open... If however he can get to the roof he may be able to do one or more of the following: Dangle some objects with string to break up the glare from the window, or give the birds some contrast. Mount a big eye on the roof side nearest the flight path - this is usually a ballon with a big red eye on it that deters most birds. Mount a big plastic owl or other predator bird.
posted by Gungho at 10:07 AM on January 4, 2008

Seconding the decals.
We put them up on our French windows, which were getting hit every couple of weeks or so, and I think since then I've only noticed one not-quite-hit.
posted by opsin at 11:03 AM on January 4, 2008

Despite your comment about not being able to put them up that is, why not try them on the inside?
posted by opsin at 11:04 AM on January 4, 2008

I read somewhere online that those decals don't do any good on the inside of reflective windows, but maybe it's worth a try anyway.
posted by amro at 11:24 AM on January 4, 2008

A local birding listserv I'm on recently pointed this Sibley Guides article, that talks about using a highlighter to draw on your windows. Interesting.

They also refer to this site to buy bird strike prevention accouterments.

Another tactic is hanging strips of mylar inside the window. They move around a lot because mylar is so light, and birds purportedly can see the flashes the mylar makes and so don't hit the window. Mind you, I've never tried any of these.
posted by Stewriffic at 12:10 PM on January 4, 2008

Can you get something-or-other to put inside the window? Maybe a black cat cutout. Perhaps, just perhaps, the light will leave a silhouette visible on the outside and the cats will stay away.

I don't know if it'd work, but it's really all I can think of.
posted by fogster at 12:32 PM on January 4, 2008

I share your feelings about these birds, amro.

Could you download some raptor calls and use a boombox to play them in a continuous loop against the window?-- perhaps in a cardboard box on it's side with its bottom pointed into the room to attenuate the sound you would hear? That might make them avoid your building altogether, although the annoyance factor to humans could be a big problem.

By 'reflective' you seem to mean those half silvered (aluminized) windows. If so, decals made of aluminum foil would have at least a chance of being seen because they would make the window surface just in front of them marginally brighter as viewed from the outside, although black paper would seem to be more effective in the opposite direction.

There's another outside possibility using decals from inside I think is worth mentioning. Many birds can see polarized light; that is, they can see the polarization of light directly, unlike us.

This means that if you were to put clear decals made of polaroid or another plastic (I seem to remember that even Saran wrap is somewhat polarizing) that polarizes light on your window and shine a light through it, that might make them stand out like a lighthouse to birds even though they would be invisible to us.

This would be somewhat tricky to do, because quite a bit of the light reflecting from your windows is already polarized (such as the light from the sky) and you would have to take pains to make sure your decals did not transmit light having the same polarization as light from the sky. You could do this by rotating the decals so that the sky looks as dark as possible when viewed through them and then mounting them in that orientation, as I understand it.
posted by jamjam at 1:26 PM on January 4, 2008