Dang cardinal attacking the windows

JazzDad · Feb 23, 2005

We are "birders" and have consulted with experts. There is no way to stop him. (If he's going to dash his fool head against some glass, I prefer the house windows to the car mirrors.) And Mr. Murphy would tell you that if you take a shot at him, you'll miss him and hit the window. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

bczoom · Feb 23, 2005

Sounds like I don't have much of a choice...

I checked where I thought the nest was and there's nothing there. There's no other nesting spots within 100'. I think it visits the bush next to the house to get the berries.

I will take care of it discreetly and carefully.

A little anecdote that's related.
A couple years ago I had a woodpecker that kept pounding on the cedar siding. Well, it obviously had to be taken care of. My most readily available shotgun is a law enforcement style Mossberg 500 (pistol grip, synthetic, heat shield on barrel...).
The little bugger takes to flight as soon as it sees me so it was hard to get a good shot.
Well, I hear the tap-tap-tap at the front of the house. I snuck around from the back and readied the weapon. I jumped around the corner to the front to take my shot.

OOPS. It wasn't the woodpecker. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Our new postal carrier proceed to scream and drop my mail and packages all over the driveway. The postmaster was in the back seat of the car and her draw dropped.

OK... I finally got them calmed down and explained the situation.

They both have a face to go with the name on my mail now... We still laugh about it.

riptides · Feb 23, 2005

For bird problems, we have plastic OWL and CROW decoys.
The OWL decoy, keeps them away. The CROW decoy attracts certain species to the "engagement" area.

Both can be had with some work at your local sport shop or Tractor Suppy Company.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

bczoom · Feb 23, 2005

I had thought about an owl.
Aren't those things kind of pricy (I'm thinking $30-40).
I want to blow up that picture that Don posted and hang it. Wonder how long before Mrs. Zoom pulls it down.

ronjhall · Feb 23, 2005

Here is a Owl that less than $30. Click Here
I have one mounted on our Garden Pond. I thought that was why the Cardinals kept fling into our windows. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

bczoom · Feb 23, 2005

DUUUHHHHHHH /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

What an idiot I am sometimes...
Well, at least I thought of it before all of you made a fool out of me.

I just took the picture of an owl from the link Ron provided, blew it up to 8x11 and printed. Taped it to the windows...

Let's see what the cardinal does tomorrow. He comes for a few hours in the morning and has 2 windows he likes. There's now owls taped to the inside of the glass. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

8NTX · Feb 23, 2005

We had a cardinal doing exactly the same thing at our lake cabin a few months ago. Dang bird woke me up at first light repeatedly flinging himself at the little window over the bathroom sink. Did it all day long, best I could tell. My wife had a fit when I started to get out the shotgun. We were only there one night when it happened, the next time he was gone.

But we have a major problems at our house in the suburbs with grackles. They use our pool and spa as their personal birdbath and water fountain. I bought a couple of those owls from Wallyworld. The small birds such as sparrows ignore them. But the grackles won't come near our yard anymore. We have a cheap one (10 bucks) on the wall of the spa. The more expensive one (20 bucks) that has the bobble head on it is perched on a nearby fence post. Have no idea if it would work on cardinals, but worth a try at that price.

Jim_Fisher · Feb 23, 2005

bczoom,

( For several hours a day, it'll attack its reflection in the glass.
The sound is very annoying but what's worse is the fact that on each attack, the bird seems to poop on next landing. Well, the next landing is either the grill, snow shovel or wood tub. )

When I was a child, Mom put Glass Wax on the window panes when that happened. Take away the reflection and the attack stops.

Junkman · Feb 24, 2005

This post reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend from Maine. Seems that they had a problem with crows in the garden. A neighbor told them that he had a solution to the problem. The next day, he hung a dead crow in the tree near the garden. From that day on, there were no crows invading the garden. Guess that the crows saw there friend hanging there and learned the lesson. Today, you would probably have half the state after you for such a deed... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

GerardC · Feb 24, 2005

( OOPS. It wasn't the woodpecker. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Our new postal carrier proceed to scream and drop my mail and packages all over the driveway. The postmaster was in the back seat of the car and her draw dropped.)

LOL. You sure give a new meaning for "Going Postal". Gerard