Give Birds A Chance: Use Window Clings

Each year thousands of birds are killed when they crash into windows and glass doors. Here’s how to put an end to the slaughter.

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE | I’d been meaning to do it for a few years, but it wasn’t until I experienced three horrible deaths in a single week, each one the result of a small bird crashing into the picture window in my home office and then dropping into the reflective pool directly below it and drowning, that I decided to make a preemptive move.

Black Hawk Decals Save Bird Lives

“We’ve had lots of good feedback with these window hawk decals,” the woman behind the counter at Wild Birds Unlimited told me when I popped into their shop looking for a way to put an end to the slaughter. Birds are unable to recognize glass as an obstacle because they see the landscape reflected off its surface, she explained. “The static-cling hawks break up the reflection so birds can tell that something is there—and when that something happens to look like a predator they move quickly to get away from that.”

Easily removable black hawk silhouettes, which are applied on the inside of a window, are used where birds cannot detect glass. Red hawk silhouettes are used where birds see their own reflection, think it’s another bird and try to attack it. “Robins in particular engage in this behavior,” the Wild Birds woman told me.

Those who think hawk silhouettes look ominous (I happen to think they look interesting), might want to consider using a clear decal that brilliantly reflects ultraviolet sunlight, which is supposedly invisible to humans but glows like a stoplight for birds. These decals, which are applied to the outside of the window and lose their potency in six to nine months, come in non-threatening shapes such as leaves and squares.—Carolann Rule

Both black hawk and ultraviolet decals (around $10 a packet) are available at Wild Birds Unlimited; visit wbu.com. Online, Duncraft sells all three types; visit duncraft.com

Photo: Duncraft