I figured I'd run this by you guys....within the last 4 weeks, I have had 6 birds smash into my house windows and be wounded or die. In the last five years, this has happened only once that I can remember. They've been robins and cardinals. With all the west nile and bird flu talk, I'm a little concerned. I was goign to call animal control in my town today to see what they think. This is teh firast year I spread that Scotts level 1 fertilizer/weed control on my lawn. Maybe it got into teh bugs/worms and is messing up the birds?

go to a birdwatching store and buy some black stickers in the shape of a hawk and put them on your windows.... i live in the woods and had to do this.......... before stickers- dead birds almost every week-after sticker- zero dead birds...

one more thing jim....keep the kids off your lawn for a while if your concerned about the chemicals..

I wouldn't worry about disease. The odds of the first bird flu showing up in a cardinal in your backyard are pretty low.

-spence

Have had this happen in the past and what Nebe says works - there are stickers that you can put on your windows - think some of them look like spider webs too - so that the birds recognize there is something there and don't do an evil kneveil into the glass. Unless you are in a remote area - I am sure you are not alone in the use of lawn chemicals, so I wouldn't draw the cause and effect relationship with your use of lawn fertilizer this year. As far as contacting animal control or health department regarding bird flu tie-in. The robins and the cardinals are not long range migrants and i doubt they would have been tainted with this flu. Plus, we are not on the right migration flyway for birds that may have it in Asia.

scientists are testing birds that have migrated
to alaska for bird flu this week and they will be testing
over 100,000 birds.
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Birds banging into windows is because from a birds perspective
the window reflects a "perfect image" (in the morning sunlight)
of the trees and the background
and being swift and adept fliers capable of weaving
thru holes in the bushes and trees makes them
think :think: the window is a hole thru... so they fly
into windows because they appear to be thru-ways.:tooth:

i'll betcha the windows are on the shaded side of the house.:wall:
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i rescue many unconscious birds before the neighbors cats find-em
and keep an extra bird cage handy just for that purpous.
last year i got two prized visitors that way...a black and white warbler..and a ruby crowned kinglet....birds i would never ever hold in my hand unless it was dead...and would very rarely see except thru binoculars and then ..they are constantly on the move...
so i welcome the bird crashing into my window sound actually...
been -> getting several a day....but no knockouts recently.:jester:

go to a birdwatching store and buy some black stickers in the shape of a hawk and put them on your windows.... i live in the woods and had to do this.......... before stickers- dead birds almost every week-after sticker- zero dead birds...

I had this psycho bird that was attacking its own reflection in my living room window. The noise was driving us nuts. I tried the cut-out hawk trick. The crazy thing started attacking the hawk :D :rotf2:

Sometimes, birds commit hari-kari on windows when they eat fermented berries from a nearby bush and get hammered ;)

The robins and the cardinals are not long range migrants and i doubt they would have been tainted with this flu. Plus, we are not on the right migration flyway for birds that may have it in Asia.
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as i said in another post... one way the bird flu might enter america
is via a smuggled in bird....stuffed in a tube with a bunch of other stuffed in tubes (sleep induced) birds in a car coming over the border.

the thing to worry about is.. when the first person (in america) contracts the disease ....how much exposure to the general public happens before it's discovered. The C.D.C. better be hoppin like bunnies
when that day arrives.

Sometimes, birds commit hari-kari on windows when they eat fermented berries from a nearby bush and get hammered ;)
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my parents had retired to florida...and my mother always got a real big kick out of all the drunken robins that ate the fermented berries.:D

they'd like try and hop three times and tumble over... :kewl:

thanks guys, its just weird that this never happened as often before. Maybe all the rain has pushed up more worms and thus feeding birds.

Go with the bird stickers.
Happened to me all the time particularly in a house with windows on both sides that you can see straight thru.
The neighborhood cats figured it out before I did, there used to be 1 or 2 hanging around all the time until I put up 3 bird of prey stickers on the main picture window.

New sponsor nixalite, has UV stickers for the windows which are transparent to the human eye , but highly visable to birds, 4 for $9.95

When a bird dive bombs my windows i run out there with a cardboard box and cover it up. Unless it snapped its neck they will usually stop seeing stars in a half hour or so. My mom had a black sillouette of a chicadee in her kitchen window, and one morning while drinkin coffee a hawk hit the window so hard it cracked it, i spilled my coffee cuz i was laughing so hard.

Reminds me ofthe time I was hungover and drove through a flock of seaguls(no not the band) in Plymouth. Friggin birds bouncing off the windsheild woke me right up.:shocked: