On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 10:49:21 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Jul 9, 9:34=A0am, (Way Back Jack) wrote:

ASSORTED SMALL BIRDS: attack their reflections in windows and really
create a mess. =A0This year, a robin, last year, a lady cardinal, the
year before that, a song sparrow.

Still, some wildlife is enjoyable. =A0Young turkey vultures are friendly
and inquisitive while you work outside. =A0Their parents demonstrate a
high degree of surgical skill extracting a brain from a deceased
woodchuck or raccoon through the decedent's eye sockets. =A0Interesting
to observe. Then there were the pheasants strutting and eating a ton
of bugs but they suddenly and mysteriously disappeared 20-25 years
ago.

"ASSORTED SMALL BIRDS: attack their reflections in windows and
really create a mess."

That's not how it was explained to me at a recent visit to the Nature
Center at a State Park.

Me: "Why do you have a single decal of a bird on each of your
windows?"

Staff: "Have you ever had a bird bounce off your living room window?"

Me: "Yes, I assume it's because they can't see the glass."

Staff: "Correct. Now, under normal circumstances, when a bird is
simply flying from one place to another, they would rather not fly
into another a bird. By placing decals of birds on the windows, the
birds turn away and find another route to wherever they were going."

Oh yeah, we have bouncing birds too, who unintentionally crash into
the windows, often causing harm or death to themselves. I feel sorry
for them.

I'm talking about birds who see their reflections as an adversary,
competitor, or whatever you want to call them. They attack their
reflections numerous times each day, not with crashing force but with
pecks. The mess they make -- spit, snot, or whatever -- is hard to
clean