Why are young birds flying into windows?

Like most around Crowland and the Lincolnshire countryside we look forward to spring and early summer to see new arrivals at garden bird tables and around our hedgerows.

We had often found a number of young fledgling birds dead outside. It appears they had flown into windows at the back of the house which overlooks a large tree-lined garden. The bird varieties included Thrushes, Blackbirds and a Great Tit. All had collided with windows resulting in their death. Some had just been stunned and managed to recover after a short while.

The windows throw reflections from the surroundings and the birds frequently believe they are flying into open space when in fact they are flying into a reflection and into the window. Large picture frame windows are the worst.

Unfortunately, sad as it is, there are not many things we can do to prevent this from happening other than to implement a few simple solutions as the young birds appear not to have learned that what they see in the glass is not their real world. Often they see the angled reflections of trees, sky and open spaces in the glass, which appear to confuse them, resulting in the collisions.

Once the birds have fledged and got to the juvenile stage they are still getting orientated to their new surroundings and adjusting to their flying abilities. Often we see what appears to be nothing but recklessness from young blackbirds, rushing around either to avoid other birds or in pursuit of food.

In an effort to reduce the rising casualties we now pull down our window blinds during the daytime from about May through to September, when the juveniles are around in order to minimise the reflections. But if you do this make sure you are not making the matter worse as a result - go outside and check as blinds can introduce a mirroring effect. It works in our case as our blinds have a pattern effect. Curtains or drapes might also help. You could also try those stick on silhouette images of birds and animals available at some garden centres - infact anything that breaks up the reflections from the outside is worth trying. For us, the silhouette stick-ons have reduced our casualty list.

The picture to the right is of an adult female Chaffinch found in May. She was still warm. We left her where she fell for almost 2 hours, first to make sure she was indeed dead and not simply stunned, but also out of respect for the dignity that was once a life. Birds are so fragile, hardly of any significant weight. Their beauty, ironically, can only be closely examed at times like this.

Here are a few suggestions: try relocating your bird feeders away from windows (which often defeats the point of having a feeder if you want to see the birds) or place hanging baskets near to windows in an effort to disuade the birds away from the windows. On one side of a glass conservatory, we have also planted bushes which physically blocks their flight path.

To review:

1. Using blinds or patterned light-coloured fabric to break up the reflections - but be careful not to increase "mirroring" of the window.

2. Position outside hanging pots or stick-on internal decorative features around the offending window areas to disuade birds.

3. Plant trees or bushes close-by - anything that might be obstructive to the bird´s flight pattern.

4. Reclocate bird feeders further away from windows.

5. Although difficult, unless you´re replacing windows, angle windows to eliminate head-on reflections.