I thought I’d already talked too much here about bird strike prevention, but I recently reviewed what I had, no, I haven’t, really. It’s show-and-tell time!
It’s especially time, because I’ve exhorted people to fix their windows for ages. You still don’t see it on regular homes, but sometimes you do on new construction, with the artistic appearance of large windows on buildings.
For a number of years now, shops and even bus shelters have had a printed wrap treatment. This is where a company applies a print-decorated, perforated material (paint or plastic) to the windows so that people see images and text when they look at the building. Inside, the printing dims the daytime glare while letting the light in, providing a fine screen through which to view the outdoors. This exact treatment also happens to be visible to birds and prevents bird strikes! YAY!
One reason every day homeowners – house and condo, whether duplex or triplex-style – haven’t yet taken the same step is because 1) they still don’t know about it, 2) it’s not common, 3) it takes a little effort, which means excuses get in the way, and 4) people [used to] fear looking “weird.”
The thing is, people now know enough about the issue, and we see these decorative windows around enough, that they’ll approve of this weird thing you do. It’s not weird anymore!
Doing the weird thing: bird proofing ALL my windows
So now I’ll actually show you the results of these extra steps you need to take (and then your neighbour will take, and then the office building ought to to take, and all developers town councils need to take). Because I’m the weirdo who shows people what works (and says so, if it doesn’t).
In 2015, after killing a bird (blog post to come) from not having done the bird-proofing, I bought and applied a roll of Feather Friendly to the patio door window.
The results were remarkable, and from the inside, you don’t really notice the squares unless you’re right at the window looking out. In fact, you might see some pics on this blog where one of the squares is in the picture. But anyway, here:
With what remained of that roll of tape, I also did one side of the kitchen window. Unfortunately I chose the wrong side; I should have done the casement side (the one that tilts outwards). So instead, I made an Acopian Bird Saver curtain for it.
(Since then, the climbing hydrangea has grown around and partially obscured the window that I treated with tape in 2015. The hydrangea has tangled itself into the Acopian curtain cords, so now I’ll buy more Feather Friendly for the casement side.)
After a delay, visible progress
In 2021, I ordered tape to finish doing all the windows. I also rented a ladder from the nearby hardware store to get up and do the second floor. I bought two rolls, and it was enough to do the bay window, the bedroom window above, and half of the bedroom window above the garage. These pics were from the day I did them; you can see how it still appears from the outside:
This time I remembered to tape the casement side first, as you can see. As I ran out of Feather Friendly tape (again), I had just enough to make stripes on the left side window (which I measured to line up with its neighbour).
Using decals to help prevent bird strikes
This window is easily accessible year-round, so I came up with a work-around to make up for the gaps between the dot strips: I used the UV-light WindowAlert decals that I had on hand. Pro tip: you need a lot of decals to let the birds know it’s a window. One, two, or three won’t cut it. You have to space them close together, as birds are comfortable with flying between large gaps!
At the back of the house, a bedroom window has a permanent set of colourful butterfly decals as well as several of these UV-decal butterflies. I had three more sets to use, so I change them seasonally. I apply the snowflakes in November, the hummingbirds in April, and the falling leaves right about now, at the end of August.
When I get my next roll of Feather Friendly, I’ll cover the windows that right now are being under-served by the decals. (I’ll also replace the Acopian curtains.) UV decals are removable, which is useful for tenants. They also eventually degrade, guaranteed to last four months unless you apply WindowAlert UV liquid to them. (You can use a UV flashlight to test their visibility, too.)
Just remember: not all birds see the UV spectrum. This is why you need a more dense visual obstruction — so the birds realize what’s reflected in your window isn’t a real tree or open hole to the sky, which is what they initially expect.
New builds, glass cladding and balconies: stuff Birds Can’t See
Obviously all this romance with glass is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, because architects, builders, and permit people (the overwhelming majority) haven’t been doing it properly. There are plenty of reasons they could easily Do It Well Now, not “Wait” Until Later (homeowners won’t do it, and buildings won’t unless compelled to, or when it becomes the best replacement option for something obsolete).
For one, all this glass isn’t just terrible news for birds and other wildlife. It’s also bad news for energy consumption. The heat gain that these windows generate is just like a greenhouse in a warming world. It requires energy to cool it in summer as well as heat it in winter. That makes me think this architectural style was actually thought up by the Powers That Be. (And yes, wealth funds actually do this, strategically investing in industries that increase their own revenue base, such as the sale of coal, oil, and natural gas. Crypto kept coal alive in some states where it was petering out.)
However, fritted glass – which means glass with ceramic dots and designs on the outside surface – has lots of advantages! The material does more than beautify the exterior – it’s actually a technique to dissipate the heat. Read Why Fritted Glass Makes Buildings Even Better. And birds can see it, just like you can!
Here’s one window company’s blog about the advantages of fritted glass.
Here in Montreal, Walker Glass specializes in etched glass, and they have a series called AviProtek for bird strike prevention. You can check out their comprehensive education materials here. I’m rather pleased that people who developed this also happen to be in my area!
Retrofitting buildings that don’t have good glass
For all those developments that were done before a municipality (far from all of them!) or region updated the building code to require such glass, we need to advocate retrofits. These can be done as part of regular maintenance (e.g. when windows get broken) and on a storey-by-storey upgrade basis.
How to Advocate for Retrofits contains a gallery of buildings that have been corrected so that they no longer kill birds, and they have good advice as to how to approach management to see that it gets done.
Read more about how a building got retrofitted to protect birds here. It’s a short post; you can make a deeper dive on your own to find other examples of retrofit projects as well as new builds.
Now go forth and buy your kits and do your windows! 45 minutes at a time, one window at a time. Hopefully soon, the whole world will be doing it this way, and it’ll be only be weird when windows aren’t bird-proof.
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