How to fend off a bird attacking your window

Can a bird go insane?

That’s the question posed by reader Connie Reid, who was at the end of her rope dealing with a sparrow that spent nine days (and counting) attacking her sliding door.

It would attack, drop to the deck, rise up and attack again … and again … rest up, and attack again.

Reid was not amused. She tried various countermeasures, including turning out lights and closing blinds, all to no avail.

She even put up a colored advertising section of the newspaper, hoping that the colors would be a distraction but the bird wasn’t fooled.

“I even tried banging on the window but it would be back in a minute or two,” said Reid, who lives near Monroe.

Her husband had an observation: “I think the poor thing wants in!”

One day three other sparrows appeared. When they left, the sparrow warrior went with them.

Hope entered the picture but peace had been restored only briefly, because the bird returned, by itself, and started attacking once more, banging away with its beak.

Reid called me, asking, “Can a bird go insane?” and “What can I do about this?”

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result than what you’ve been getting. You know, continuing to hit your head against a wall and expecting it to not hurt. Or continually attacking your reflection in a window and never chasing away the other bird.

These attacks usually occur in spring and early summer when birds are vigorously defending their breeding territories, interpreting their reflections as rivals. It’s really unusual to happen in November.

While they don’t usually result in death, fighting a reflection can lead to an injury, or at least an exhausted bird. Either may hamper their foraging for food or protecting themselves from predators.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the best solution for the attacks is to cover the outside of the window with netting or screening in a frame, mounted at least 3 inches from the glass so that the reflection is no longer visible, taut enough that they will just bounce off.

Caveat: use small-mesh netting or the birds may get caught in it. Cornell uses 5/8” holes, but I’ve used crop netting of that size in the garden and every few years a bird gets caught. Smaller is better.

Other tips for safeguarding your windows against attacks:

Easiest and cheapest: Draw soap streaks across the window to break up the reflection.

Cover the outside of the window with a one-way transparent film that permits you seeing outside but from the outside, the window looks opaque.

Put decals, stickers, sun catchers, Mylar strips, or other objects on the outside surface of the window. These are only effective when spaced very closely—no more than the span of a large hand between them. The design is immaterial.

Insane? Hard to tell. Acting like a bird defending its territory, even in the fall? Probably.

Mark your calendars: The new year brings a dozen ‘free days’ for state parks, starting Jan. 1. Visitors will not need to fork over money or display the required Discover Pass ($30 annual, $10 day, www.discoverpass.wa.gov). The dates are Jan. 1, 17, 18; March 19, 26; April 22; May 8; June 4, 11; Aug. 25; Sept. 24; Nov. 11.

Bats: In a recent column on bats, I wrote: “Once captured, bats are placed in small bags and processed.” Processed means that the researcher weighs, measures and bands.

At the lab, DNA can be extracted from guano left in each bat’s bag, a handy fecal matter catcher.

Storms: Recent heavy rains and flooding created extensive damage in some areas of Olympic National Park. Due to a washout, the Olympic Hot Springs Road, just north of the Elwha Campground, is closed. The campground also was damaged.

North Shore Quinault and Graves Creek roads were both damaged by washouts and remain closed. Hurricane Ridge Road opened this weekend. Weather permitting, the Hurricane Ridge Road will be open Friday through Sunday through March 27, 2016.

Sharon Wootton; 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.