Make Your Windows Bird Safe
As we celebrate spring and the return of migrating birds, please help our birds this season by making your windows bird-safe. Birds and windows do not mix; they cannot see the glass. Unfortunately for birds, most window collisions are usually fatal. They might see the reflection, they might see indoor plant foliage that they try to land on, or they might be able to see through the windows and think they can fly through a tunnel. Even if the bird “recovers” and flies away, current studies show us that the bird will likely succumb to internal bleeding within a day or so. Bird bones are hollow, and the skull is not adapted to take concussive force.
Window collisions can happen during the day or night! This Indigo Bunting was brought into Kawartha Wildlife Centre after striking a window in the late evening. Indigo Buntings are a small member of the cardinal family, with a migratory range from Southern Ontario to Florida. They use the stars to navigate and often migrate by night, which makes them highly vulnerable to light pollution; this throws them off course by drawing them into cities with lots of lighted windows and glass. In their confusion and distress, they often collide with these lighted windows.
We can help keep wild birds safer by treating windows on the outside surface to break up the reflection and make them visible to our feathered friends. You don’t need an expensive investment; something as simple as treating windows with a bar of dry soap on the outside, or even drawing on some designs using window writers. These are not permanent solutions and can be removed if you are renting or don’t experience collisions during other seasons.
Info@KawarthaWildlifeCentre.ca
705-292-9211
