FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Re: Hummingbirds, Wood Thrush

["Roberta Burnes" <rburnes@xxxxxxx>]

In response to the question about how to avoid bird collisions with windows,
we use a product called WindowAlert, which consists of these little
leaf-shaped decals that cling to the outside of your window (static cling so
they can be removed).  Apparently they reflect light in the ultra-violet end
of the spectrum, which research shows many (if not most) birds are sensitive
to.  They see the decals on the outside surface of the windows even though
the decals appear clear to the human eye.  Their website is
Info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  We have had only one hit since installing them a year
ago, far fewer than we previously were getting.

The other thing is placement of your feeder.  Research has shown that the
farther away your feeder is from the window, the MORE hits you'll get as
birds take off from the feeders.  Apparently, when the feeder is very close
to the window they don't have time to build up the speed that would result
in a fatal collision.  Feeders should be placed very close to the window or
greater than 10 meters away to avoid this type of "taking off" collision.

I attended a seminar on avian collisions with man-made objects and it was
fascinating (and pretty horrifying).  These are the websites they referenced
on this subject:
www.flap.org
towerkill.com
www.fcc.gov
www.faa.gov


Roberta Burnes

Education Coordinator

The Arboretum & State Botanical Garden of Kentucky

500 Alumni Drive

Lexington, KY 40503

859/257-9339

-----Original Message-----
From: birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Doris Tichenor
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 11:46 AM
To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [birdky] Hummingbirds, Wood Thrush

We hung out our hummingbird feeders on April 18 and had two infrequent 
visitors the next day. So far they seem shy. They don't hang around 
much.

This morning at dawn we heard a "thump" against a window at our house. 
Upon investigation we found a dead wood thrush. We have heard wood 
thrushes in the  woods near our house for many years but had never even 
seen one about our yard. Needless to say, we are devastated. Does 
anyone have any ideas (short of covering windows with plywood!) for 
stopping this slaughter?

Doris Tichenor
Morgantown, KY
Butler County

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================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS==============

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your messages with first & last name, city, & 
state abbreviation.
--------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to:
birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:
birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx