Garden

[maximillian]

This morning at 6:30 a.m. (04/11) a robin woke me up.  The poor thing-I can;t figure out what was going on.  She was throwing herself at the picture window in our living room.  I pulled the blind and even went out on the front porch to place a couple of barriers on the railing to keep her away, but she persisted.  I watched the performance.  She would feed in our front yard, they fly and  literally throw herself against our front picture window.  If I went out on the porch, she would stop, but when I came back inside, she started again.  Does anyone know what causes this strange bird behavior?  She also did this on the door (with a window on the upper half) on the side of our garage. After about two hours, the behavior stopped.

[songbird]

It might be that the bird is looking for a place to nest and she won't deter until nest is achieved.  Another reason could be a reflection of the bird.  And the bird tries to attack it.  Birds sometimes do strange things.  It's well known that some birds will attack humans if the come to close to a nest.  We had a bird on campus that would dive bomb anyone that tried to walk under a tree.

[Karnerblue]

You can google it but it's usually because they see the reflection of the sky:

"The first step is to understand why birds fly into windows: It's usually because when they're looking at the window, they're seeing the reflection of sky or trees instead of a pane of glass. They think they're following a clear flight path. That mistake can be deadly; at least half of the birds who hit windows die from their injuries or because another animal killed them while they were stunned and couldn't escape or protect themselves."

These sites list things you can do to help or prevent it.

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/bird_safe_windows.html

[JustJazzmom]

Birds that keep hitting the window think it's another robin in their territory, so they think they are chasing off another competitor.

The sky is reflected in your window (like a mirror). Probably construction paper mounted on the window will stop that.

[Lorik62]

I had a cardinal that used to do this to my basement window. I thought it was going to kill itself. A neighbor told me to buy an owl decoy and place it near the window. Thank goodness it worked! 

[Julie928]

This past autumn we had a cardinal that was doing the same thing.  I always knew when he was around because I would hear his beak pecking at the window.  I placed decals on the windows that appear clear to us but reflect differently for the birds.  These are sold at most bird-specialty stores.  I also heard that hanging ribbons on the window works (anything that helps break up the reflection).  I agree that the robin thinks it's reflection is another robin and is trying to get it away from his turf.  Good luck ~ they really are such beautiful birds!  :-)

[maximillian]

Thanks for your replies.  It is now Tuesday morning (04/12) and the robin has not been here with her strange behavior.  Last night I pulled the blind all the way down on the picture window, so maybe that helped.  All of your replies made sense.  One year  a robin did make a nest above a light fixture on that front porch.  The behavior could be territorial too.  I hope all is well with that bird!

[tototwo]

I don't know about your robin, but we have cardinals that crash themselves into our windows every spring.  And we even put jelly decals on our windows!   We've read online and in bird books that this is a mating ritual for cardinals. Males are trying to impress females and also they think they're fighting with other males.  Males only do this when there is a female close by. 

[jlkz]

@maximillian

Your post reminded of the large woodpecker who started to visit a bow window at our second floor condo in FL last year.  Every AM about 7:15 he would start hitting the metal frame and keep at it for about a half hour....even my tapping at him didn't stop him.  He managed to tear the screen to shreds as he balanced himself to do his work.  DH had to replace a large section later.

The first time I heard the noise I thought DH was cracking tiles on the back lanai !!!!  It took a couple weeks for the bird to stop.

[silkyk]

We had a Robin that hung out on our deck (bird spa there) and THEN he discovered that "other bird" right inside the door (his reflection in the mirror on the closet door). Anytime I left the deck door open he was in like a flash jumping and pecking and tweeting bad words at that other fella....it was so funny to watch. He'd kick bird booty for 5 minutes or so and then strut off like Mr. Man. We woukd hear him in there and watch and he paid us no mind. I'm hoping he shows up again this year. Better than tv! Oh and that owl decoy is the best answer IMHO. Works great! You can also get some of the reflective bird tape that they use in orchards and hang a few strips above the window.