SaveTheBirds

Problem

My mother keeps on finding dead birds beneath her plate glass windows.

My sister has a similar problem at her cabin in Alaska.

Information

I have heard that placing images of birds of prey on the window will trigger the natural instinct of birds to stay away from danger.

Another possiblity is that there may be a disease, such as West Nile Virus that is killing the birds.

Tools and Info Needed

Vinyl cutter, images of hawk/owl/birds of prey sillouettes.

Has anybody else tried this idea yet?

What size should the stickers be to have the effect? small or big?

Will the images keep the birds away from the bird feeders?

Possible Solutions

1 Use the vinyl cutter to make stickers of the profile/sillouette of birds of prey like hawks and owls. Put the stickers on the windows and see if there are fewer dead birds.

• My mother has given permission to try it on her windows after the latest bird kill. A few weeks ago she wanted nothing to do with it.

• My neices are at the cabin and could put the stickers on the windows this summer and report back with results.

2 Bring the dead birds to the animal control officer to have them tested. If there is West Nile, they would like to know about it to warn people in the community.

Results from testing

No testing yet.

Communicating the Solution

Post some photos on flickr. Write up a summary of the solution with suggestions for improvement.

Resources

Images of birds: http://www.neotropicalbirds.org/SlideShow/SlideShowPortraits/broadWingedHawk.jpg

http://birdwebsite.com/articles/hawk.htm