Fact: Every year millions of birds die when they crash into windows in homes, schools, skyscrapers, factories, office buildings, and other sites.

Why: The transparent quality of windows makes them virtually invisible to birds, often until it is too late to stop short. It is difficult for a bird in flight to distinguish between glass and open space. It may see reflected vegetation in the window, but not the glass itself.

What You Can Do: There are different steps you can take in your home to prevent needless bird deaths caused by invisible windows.

• Move your bird feeder. Make sure your bird feeder is either a minimum of 3 meters away from windows, or less than 1 meter away. Birds may still fly into the window if you move the feeder closer, but they will not have enough momentum to injure themselves.
• Reduce transparency and reflectivity. Change the angle or surface of the window to lessen the transparency and reflectivity. Cover the window's external surface with a film, change the lighting, and keep all curtains closed or add external blinds.
• Mark the window. You can etch the surface of the glass or streak it with a bar of soap. Hang strips of newspaper or ribbons, place strips of masking tape on the window. (These are more temporary measures in case there is a severe problem. However, most of these solutions are inconvenient or unsightly.)
• Apply netting. Perhaps the best and most permanent solution is to stretch netting across the windows. Fine black netting that is used to protect berry bushes and fruit trees is available at many garden shops, home centers, and feed mills. Stretch the netting across the window or across a frame that can be installed outside the window. Be sure it is stretched with adequate tension to hold it several inches from the window's surface. Birds may continue to fly towards the window, but they will bounce off the mesh unhurt.
• Hang hawk silhouettes. Attach hawk silhouettes to the window's surface. These shapes probably decrease collisions because they break up the smooth reflective surface and make the glass more "visible" rather than because they are shaped like hawks; but, in any case, they seem to help. The silhouettes are most effective if used in multiples. It is helpful also to attach the silhouettes by a suction cup or a hanging device from the outside so that movement caused by wind will catch the birds' attention. Most people think that the graceful shapes are interesting rather than unsightly. They're available commercially but they're also easy to make.
  (See the below instructions.)

Materials:
black, light-weight plastic
clear, outdoor tape
scissors
a template or model of the shape (approximately 8 inches from bill to tail and 12 inches from wing tip to wing tip) - click here for print-ready template

Simply trace or carefully draw the shape on the plastic, cut out the silhouette, and tape it to the outside of the window. Be sure to place several on any large expanse of glass. One word of caution: you should check with the manufacturers of thermopane windows before you place anything on the glass surface. If this presents a problem, hang the silhouette from the sash around the window.

Not only can you make your house safer for birds, but by making several silhouettes and giving them as gifts to friends, neighbors, and even that office building with the big glass windows down the street, you can also encourage others to make their houses bird-safe.

Other Useful Window Web Sites:
National Audubon Society
http://www.audubon.org/
educate/expert/window.html