OT: House being attacked by a catbird

[joemassi]

I know why this is occurring, there is a catbird nest with mama sitting on eggs/chicks in a bush on the corner of my house. The male catbird is being aggressive and attacking a perceived threat in its reflection in the windows. So how do I get this stupid bird to stop doing it? This bird wakes up at 5:00 in the morning and starts attacking my bedroom window. After a while he moves to the bathroom window. Around noon he starts going after the windows by the front door.

We have tried turning on the lights in the room, putting a white background behind the window, and putting stickers on the inside of the window. The bird just keeps attacking.

We have had a catbird in this bush every year for the last ten. This is the first time the bird has gone after the windows. He usually goes after people walking at the end of the driveway.

[rocksteady]

http://www.talking-cats.com/images/submissions/mySubmissions/my-talking-cat-054.jpg

[crabby and son]

Get rid of the catbird and nest. Life is too short to let a stupid bird ruin your sleep. I love animals too and I belong to PETA ( people eating tasty animals) but enough is enough....Gary

[skipperwork]

Open the windows.:eek:

[joemassi]

Opened the window. The stupid bird keeps attacking the glass. He is going after the front door right now.

I do not want to get rid of the birds because they do a great job cleaning the insects out of my garden. I will eat a lot of good tomatoes come July and August because these birds clean out the cutworms and the tobacco worms now. The male took a break from attacking the window about half an hour ago. He would go to the garden, pick up a cutworm, fly to the nest, and drop off the cutworm. He did this 20 times. Then he goes back to the window.

I am beginning to think I wake up at 6, so the 5 o'clock wakeup call is not that bad. How long until these birds fly off? They are usually done by the first of July.

[Thoroughbred]

I believe he is attacking his reflection so if you tack a little bit of opaque or white plastic over the window he will stop. As soon as the babies can fly he will move along too.

[swartj]

Get the net.

[Clark W. Griswold]

He's defending his territory from his reflection. Short of removing the nest (or the offending bird), you will have to eihter live with it or do something to eliminate the reflection in the glass. Maybe spray something on the outside of the glass? I think anything you do to the inside of the glass will make it even more reflective.

[Pat Kelly]

Yes, the reflection bit. Hence the term "bird brain".

Leave the nest alone, cover the glass and all will be well. Catbirds were here before we were. We have a catbird in our garden that I swear, when I working the landscape, sits not 3 feet from me giving me the evil eye. Our bell-wearing garden cat can't be bothered but the bird raises holy h*ll; that's how we know where the cat is.:pp

[philk999]

Had one last year that had a nest in the tree right next to my front door and it attacked us anytime we went in and out of the front door. Lasted about 2 -3 weeks.

This year I wrapped the trees in bird netting to keep them out of the tree so they could not nest.

I called some one about the birds in animal control and they said once they nest and have chicks, the bird is protected by the migratory bird act and you are not supposed to move or damage the nest.

A Catbird is actually a mockingbird and I looked them up on winpedia and they are a very aggressive and teriitorial bird and will even call in other neighboring mockingbirds to help protect its nest from a preceived threat.

Good luck.

[Doggydaddy]

put a cat decal on the window, he'll stop.

[joemassi]

I taped the picture from Rock Steady's signature to the window. The bird has not been back. My wife is not happy.

We did notice the bird only attacks when the window is in shade with light coming from in the house. So the bird will not attack the front of the house in the afternoon, and the back of the house is too far away.

He is in the garden now hunting cutworms.

[CSLUG]

http://lolyfe.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/funny-pictures-cat-bird-book1.jpg

[Pat Kelly]

Gray Catbird - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Catbird)

Don't tell anyone but I've been embarrassingly caught in the garden talking therapeutically to our Catbird since so emotive...a mix of Dr. Phil and The Catbird Listener I guess:wacko:

[Pat Kelly]

I taped the picture from Rock Steady's signature to the window. The bird has not been back. My wife is not happy.

Rock Steady has the BEST signature on Tidal Fish. My wife got a chuckle outta it, but maybe she was just playing along:clapping2::thumbup:

[Echo]

Don't have cat birds but whatever I have, there committing suicide at a alarming rate. Picked up three last week at the foot of two windows, and four this week. I guess I cleaned the windows too well two weeks ago...

[rocksteady]

I taped the picture from Rock Steady's signature to the window. The bird has not been back. My wife is not happy.

We did notice the bird only attacks when the window is in shade with light coming from in the house. So the bird will not attack the front of the house in the afternoon, and the back of the house is too far away.

He is in the garden now hunting cutworms.
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u240/stromus/Gifs%20for%20threads/Clapping.gif

[WHACKMASTER]

A tennis racquet would do a great job.

Jeff

[rmamechanic]

Get you a crow decoy and place it where he can see it but not too close to the nest.

[A Disciple]

Ive had this problem myself before. I solved it by coating the glass panes with liquid shoe polish. It takes away the reflection and is easily removed after the chicks have left the nest.