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Psycho Cardinal....HELP!!!!
Posted: May 10, 2012
Wondering if anyone has any suggestions to get rid of a menacing bird. There is a female cardinal (female!) who has claimed our tree right outside one of our back windows. Actually, several windows face this tree, and she flies at them from the tree and hits the window with her beak over and over and over. It's mainly one window, but when I shut the blinds, she'll go to any of the others and do the same thing. It's waking me up every morning, driving my cats insane, etc. Now, we've had several other birds do this in the past; a mocking bird, a robin, and a male cardinal. But none of them have been as persistent as this one, and none of them woke me up in the morning! At first shutting all the blinds put an almost-stop to it, but now she's right back at it just like she was before.
Don't get me wrong here - I'm a bird lover. We feed the birds and love to watch them. But I'm starting to fantasize about wringing this one's neck!
;
This happened to me a few years ago ...sm - tiredofworking
[ In Reply To ..]It looked tacky but stopped the problem. The bird is seeing its reflection. He went outside and tacked some old bath towels over the windows for a couple of days. The bird we were having trouble with finally relocated and once we took the towels down we had no more problems.
I've thought of doing something like that, - KC
[ In Reply To ..]but the two windows on the back corner are nearly two stories high, with arches at the top, as the family room has a two-story-high ceiling. I can't imagine being able to cover the entire thing! Plus, right now as I speak it's decided to go peck the front window! I'm afraid I'd have to cover every window in the house, and there are many! I think I need to find a way to just get rid of the bird. I know she's looking at her reflection, and like I said other birds have done this in the past, but what I don't get is why is she so aggressively seeking out a bird to fight? I'd understand if it just "caught her eye" or something, but she flies around looking to rumble!
Thanks for the reply, though. I might end up trying to put something on some of the windows and see what happens.
No good solution for you, but had to laugh - Ayn
[ In Reply To ..]"she flies around looking to rumble" -- all I could think was "do birds have PMS or menopause??"
Sorry, know that's not helpful for this annoying situation, but I was getting quite a visual of an angry mamma bird and feeling a little empathy for her :-)
Yeah, I DID feel bad for her, but... - KC
[ In Reply To ..]that's long gone, LOL! I put my husband to task - he knows how important my sleep is, and the fact that I'm a night owl who doesn't go to bed till around 2:00 a.m. isn't doing me any favors. I hope he can figure something out!
What about one of those fake owls? - You could perch it near the -
[ In Reply To ..]window where the cardinal can see it. I saw one on a balcony near the top of an apartment building once, and I thought it was real! Maybe the cardinal will, too.
there are clear decals you can get that will deter birds - from interacting with windows
[ In Reply To ..]
Clear decals? Can you describe these please? nm - KC
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Here's a link for you - ...
[ In Reply To ..]The decals are clear to the human eye, but reflect ultraviolet light that is visible to birds.
http://www.windowalert.com/
You can find them on Amazon, too. Hope this helps!
Thatks! I'll check them out. nm - KC
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Decorative wind socks or flags. - Rainy
[ In Reply To ..]We have robins that like to crash into one particular window, and a spiral wind sock(?) seems to have helped. But, as I said, it is only 1 window. Not sure if you would want to use those if you have several windows.
That's my problem - I have lots of windows and... - KC
[ In Reply To ..]she just travels to another window if one isn't suiting her. But, I suppose there is a chance that if whatever we put outside/on the window actually scares her, then maybe she will leave the other windows alone, as well.
birds and windows - OHMT
[ In Reply To ..]There are window decals you can buy, sort of like the decals you can put up on your windows at Christmas. That will deter the bird from hitting the window. You could also try hanging yarn or string down the window so it flutters in the breeze. Try a nature or bird store near you, I bet they would have something.
Good luck - I had one too!
[ In Reply To ..]I had a female cardinal who did the same thing - she would fly into the window over and over again and this literally went on for several years until she died of old age. She worked at it like a job; started first thing in the morning and didn't finish til late in the evening. I don't know when she found the time to eat.
By the way, I tried putting stuff in the window - I had one too!
[ In Reply To ..]I did try the decal thing with no luck. All I could figure was that the reflection was bright enough on her side that she actually couldn't see the decal on the inside.
Speaking of not having time to eat... - KC
[ In Reply To ..]I almost forgot about this! Two days ago a male cardinal flew up next to her on the window sill, and looked like he gave her a big, open-beaked kiss, with her reciprocating. I joked to my daughter that he was giving her food to keep her strength up so she could continue her fight (with herself). I wonder if that could be what actually happened?
Could be! - I had one too!
[ In Reply To ..]Maybe he was an enabler! I'm pretty sure my cardinal was too psychotic to attract a mate.
She didn't really hit the window too hard though. It was just a constant tap..........tap..............tap.........
Oh no, mine doesn't sit and tap... - KC
[ In Reply To ..]She flies up and dives into the window. I don't know how she hasn't hurt herself. She does sit on the sill some too, but then she chirps and walks back and forth, trying to see in, it looks like. I can handle tapping. That doesn't wake me up. But the dive-bombing? The first time I heard it I was convinced that someone was building something outside at 6:30 a.m., and I was ready to go yell at them to shut up!
Mine did fly from a bush into the window - I had one too!
[ In Reply To ..]She would sit in the bush and fly into the window, but since it was only a distance of a few feet, she didn't have too much speed. Then back to the bush, back to the window, repeat, literally thousands of times a day.
If yours has more speed, maybe she'll knock herself out one of these times. (Or knock herself OFF!)
She is nesting nearby and sees a rival bird - In your wndow
[ In Reply To ..]The bird is neither psycho nor stupid. She s reacting the only way she can to what her eyes see as a threat to her nest. She is probably nesting close by, if not IN that tree.
Go to wild.bird.watching dor com. They have a discussion of solutions on the cardinals-windows page.
One suggestion was to put an 8-1/2 x 11 picture of a human face in the window. You might need two if your windows are tall. I would tape it to the inside of the glass.
There were others, but that one seemed the least complicated. Silhouettes of hawks in flight are supposed to work, too.
You cannot harm the bird. It would probably be illegal, anyway. Just see the situation as she does . . . you would not like strangers to come too close to your children and neither does she.
There was no way mine was nesting - I had one too!
[ In Reply To ..]She had no time to take care of a nest or raise young. Flying into the window was a full time job from first light to last thing at night and yes, I believe she was psycho.
I thought the same thing. - KC
[ In Reply To ..]That she was way too busy pecking my windows to be nesting. Today she's been much quieter, and a little while ago I opened up my blinds to look outside and there was a fat squirrel in the tree, staring angrily (or maybe lovingly?) at his reflection in the window!!! Maybe he scared her away? My hero.... At least he can't peck the window.
Quieter because your blinds were closed! - sm
[ In Reply To ..]One of the suggestions in that reference someone provided was to close your blinds to reduce the reflection. The cardinal may have been quieter because she did not see the threatening bird reflected in your window.
If you want to help yourself and the bird, why not at least TRY some of the suggestions?
Or is it more important to you to have something to complain about? Like the woman who moved into my condominium building and demanded that a tree near her condo be cut down because a mockingbird sang in it.
Just because you think the bird is not nesting does not mean she is not trying to. It IS nesting season. Like many things humans create, your windows are interfering with her ability to live a normal life and raise a family. How about getting some compassion and trying to see this from her perspective so you can help her out?
*Sniff* - Excuse me while I wipe a little tear
[ In Reply To ..]I'm not sure why it's so hard to believe a bird can be deranged when we know a lot of people who are. It's just a bird, for Pete's sake.
You get what you give - sm
[ In Reply To ..]Well, ok. To you, it is just a bird. Chase it, poison it, tear down its nest . . . doesn't matter because it's just a stupid bird.
Kind of like how an MTSO sees YOU . . . just a stupid MT. Lie to them, cheat them, harass them, send their work to India, reduce them to poverty and make them lose their homes . . . doesn't matter because they aren't really human anyway. They're just the two-legged psycho equivalent of that loser bird.
What goes around comes around.
If you see humanity in that way.... - I feel sorry for you
[ In Reply To ..]If to you, a human soul has no more worth than an animal, you are to be pitied.
Sorrier for you if you cannot see it that way - sm
[ In Reply To ..]Don't be dramatic! This has nothing to do with the worth of human souls.
It has to do with recognizing that the way you treat others and creatures you believe to be less than yourself is a reflection of your maturuty and ethics.
Those MTSOs who abuse you don't think you are human. That is how they justify treating you that way.
Oh my... - KC
[ In Reply To ..]You must be going through a rough patch or something. If you read my posts, you'd know I've HAD my blinds closed all week long, and that it only slowed her down temporarily, and that I wasn't sure the other suggestions would work because I have MANY windows and she just goes to another one, and I didn't think I could reasonably treat/cover/whatever each one of them.
Sorry you're so unhappy right now, but why visit that upon me?
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