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Preventing Window Strikes

Netting: Stretch thin nylon or plastic netting (used to guard fruit trees and berry bushes from birds) over your windows, about six inches from the panes. The netting is a weave of black, shiny plastic in a 3/4-inch mesh. You won't lose much view, and the net pattern breaks up enough of the light hitting the window to deter birds. Any bird flying toward your window will simply bounce off the netting, if they don't see it first.

Plastic Strips: Cut one-inch-wide strips from a dark household garbage bag and hang them in front of the window or windows where most strikes occur. The strips break up the reflection. They also move in the slightest breeze, which further deters birds from flying toward the glass.

Christmas Decorations: Our 15-foot-tall bank of windows regularly lured birds to injury or death for 17 years, despite every deterrent we tried. In 1992 we decorated each of the four windows with an 18-foot-long strand of small, shiny gold balls, looping these so the strands were about seven inches apart. The strands do not obstruct our view -- we even feel they add a decorative touch. The small, shiny balls seem to alert the birds to the fact that our windows are not a continuation of the surrounding woods.

Black Crows: When we lived in upstate New York, we had two or three birds a week striking our windows until we finally solved the problem. My husband cut crow-shaped silhouettes out of large tin cans. These "crows" were painted black and suspended (from hanging brackets with wire) in front of our windows. The crows swayed in the breeze and seemed to alert other birds to stay away from our windows. We have never had another window strike.

--by Edith R. Rader

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