Text 13386, 42 rader
Skriven 2007-03-24 09:04:04 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DALE SHIPP
Ärende: Re: Birds in spring
===========================
DSac> Are you sure they're just not seeing the window and are trying to
DSac> fly into what they see as an unobstructed interior area?

DSh> Yes.   If you watched them for a few minutes, you would know. . . 
DSh> Did you get that picture I sent you?

Yes, after looking at the picture I understand better what you mean.
I can also understand why you are getting exasperated.  

Are your windows there coated with some sort of reflective glazing
that would enhance the robin's ability to see himself in the
window?

I do have a suggestion for you, though.  A window is normally a plane
separating a darkened area from a lit area.  During the day, the
exterior of the house is lit (daylight) and the interior of the house
is darker in relation to the outdoors.  You have probably noticed that
when you drive by houses in the daytime, you can't easily see in the
windows, but you do easily see reflections of the sky, landscape, you
driving by in the car, etc.  This is how the robin is seeing his
reflection and assuming it's a rival. When you drive by houses at 
night, you don't see reflections in the window, you see the inside 
of the house. In the same way, at night, when you are in your lit 
house and the outside is dark, you can't see what is going on out 
there in the yard; you see reflections from inside the lit room when 
you look at the window. 

So try illuminating the window from inside during the day. It
should dramatically cut down on the amount of reflection your red-
breasted friend sees from his perch in the daytime and solve the
problem.  An easy way to do this decoratively would be to use a small
string of Christmas lights (all white would be best IMO.)  Trim the
inside of the half-round window with the little lights and turn them
on during the day to keep the window lit without having a big ugly lamp
or cliplight there.  You can take them down after mating season if
you like (I don't think the robin will be as obnoxious once egg season
is over and any chicks have fledged.)  

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Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, 
minutus carborata descendum pantorum
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