Bird Brains
Cidu Bill on Apr 14th 2009
Okay, this week I have a different cardinal beating his head against my living room window continuously for 10 or 11 hours a day. Probably because the first one (who either gave up or gave up the ghost after six days) told him how much fun it was.
My brother’s suggestion: Take a video of it and put it up on YouTube.
Filed in Bill Bickel, YouTube, birds | 14 responses so far
src Apr 14th 2009 at 04:17 pm 1
Could be worse. Used to have a woodpecker that would pound on the metal chimney cap for a couple hours every day starting at 5:30 AM. Sounded like a cross between jackhammer and a steel drum band. Only louder.
Frank the curmudgeon Apr 14th 2009 at 06:46 pm 2
Rent a falcon and tether him to a perch outside the window - a long tether. Problem solved.
Adam Apr 14th 2009 at 06:58 pm 3
Yeah, a Youtube video is called for. Failblog, too.
Cidu Bill Apr 14th 2009 at 07:16 pm 4
Unfortunately for my brother’s idea, though, this bird, unlike his predecessor, does get spooked if he sees a person just inside the window.
Charlene Apr 14th 2009 at 08:11 pm 5
I have six inches of water in my backyard. Trade?
David N Apr 14th 2009 at 11:52 pm 6
Perhaps its that Pope outfit you wear around the house, Bill.
BGneiss Apr 15th 2009 at 10:09 am 7
I don’t know if this was mentioned the last time, but #4 reminds me - I’ve heard that you can stop the cardinal if you tape a photo of a human face to the inside of thr window. I assume it wouldn’t matter if it were color or b/w.
Soup Dragon Apr 15th 2009 at 12:20 pm 8
Bill, how do you know it’s a different bird?
Cidu Bill Apr 15th 2009 at 01:27 pm 9
First off, it looks a little different. But even before I got a good look at it, I suspected it was a different bird because the first one attacked the window even if somebody was standing right inside and this one doesn’t.
BGneiss Apr 15th 2009 at 03:47 pm 10
@CIDU Bill,
Have you tried the face photo yet (comment #7)? I was thinking you might even try a drawing of a face if the bird is that skittish. Or maybe a Halloween mask propped up against the window? I wish I had a kamikaze cardinal of my own, so I could experiment….
Another Josh Apr 15th 2009 at 04:13 pm 11
We had this problem growing up, so we taped some pictures in the window of an owl and a fox I cut out of one of my Ranger Rick magazines. After that the bird stopped. I’ve always been pretty sure that it was just the fact that there was something in the window that let the bird know that there was a pane of glass there.
Cidu Bill Apr 15th 2009 at 04:34 pm 12
BGneiss, the first bird flew directly into the raptor picture we put in the window. Since this one seems to be scared off by people, possibly the raptor will work this time.
Of course part of me is also thinking The window’s already damaged, so screw it.
Brent Apr 15th 2009 at 05:59 pm 13
A little humour on the subject that came up on my random strip screen saver earlier today:
http://www.partiallyclips.com/index.php?id=1560
infrapinklizzard Apr 16th 2009 at 10:18 pm 14
That’s a pretty common thing. I personally know of several cardinals doing this on our street. They are trying to drive off that rival who’s sitting there taunting them. The best way to get rid of them is to break up the reflection they’re seeing.
My parents-in-law had a woodpecker that would peck the metal roof over their deck. They live in Arizona, so the woodiest thing for the woodpecker to hammer around there was saguaro (cacti). Woodpeckers peck for two reasons: to expose bugs that they eat, and to make noise to attract mates. The louder the noise, the more vigorous they are… so metal roof pecking = one huge pecker (er, or something…)