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Bird pecking at windows

GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,128
in Wildlife gardening

Hello, has anyone got any ideas as to how I can stop a bird (I think it’s a young long tailed tit) from flying up to our windows, either landing on the frames or hovering near the glass and then tapping on the glass.  It is doing it at various windows and has been going on all day.  We have tried sticking bird silhouettes on the glass but that doesn’t deter it.  It is not after insects as we have given the windows a clean.  Anyone know of anything else we can try please?

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  • raisingirlraisingirl East Devon, on the Edge of Exmoor.Posts: 6,324

    No idea but this happens to us often and our neighbour even more so. It seems to be a stonechat doing it here - next door say they get a magpie knocking on their windows. It seems to be a seasonal thing and they stop once they are nesting, but I've never found a successful way to deter them.

    Makes you jump, doesn't it?

    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first” 
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Isle of WightPosts: 2,448

    I think it can see its reflection and thinks it is a rival especially in the breeding/nesting season.I have the same with bluetits.

    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,152

    It might be the above ... or is it pecking out the putty ... I've known them to feed on it. 

    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • raisingirlraisingirl East Devon, on the Edge of Exmoor.Posts: 6,324

    Definitely not putty here. I did wonder if it was a rival reflection type thing. That might be why we get less trouble than the neighbour - I'm a far less diligent housewife and my windows are rarely clean enough to reflect much  image

    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first” 
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Billericay, EssexPosts: 9,858

    We had the same thing here last year with a long-tailed tit around the same time of year
    It spent most of the day flying up against my neighbour's porch window. She's a bird fanatic and said it was as madp says - it sees the reflection and thinks it's a potential mate. It was there for hours every day, then eventually disappeared - hopefully it found a real mate. Her porch windows needed frequent cleaning

    It also took a liking to the wing mirrors on my car image

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,128

    Thanks all.  Definitely not putty as the windows are UPVC ones and it is only the glass it is pecking at.  hope it doesn’t do the same tomorrow.

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Derbyshire but with a Nottinghamshire postcode. Posts: 16,462

    They do it around my windows. I think they are collecting spiders webs for nests. Alternately, collecting insects to eat.

  • Mark56Mark56 Windsor, BerkshirePosts: 1,653

    A good reason not to clean? image

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,152
    Pete8 says:

    ... It also took a liking to the wing mirrors on my car image

    See original post

     We had that happening to my car in the office car park with a robin for several days a few years ago ... I wonder where he thought his girlfriend/rival went to at the weekend?

    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • Pete.8Pete.8 Billericay, EssexPosts: 9,858

    A bit of a floozy perhaps image

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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