Several weeks ago, my son’s bedroom window began getting attacked by a Robin. It not only pecks on the window but also poops all over the area beneath the window, you wouldn’t believe just one bird could make such a mess! So, this went on for about 1 week. 2 weeks ago, the same robin decided one window wasn’t enough. Ever since, he has been attacking every window in the house!
How to get a robin away from attacking windows
My husband works from home and became quite annoyed with the constant pecking on all of the windows. He did a little research online about the behaviors of not-so-intelligent robins. I guess our windows provide a wonderful reflection of him and he’s guarding his territory. I’m sure Mrs. Robin is quite pleased OR embarrassed!
- Try using a yellow highlighter on the windows. (This didn’t work, just ruined the highlighter from the dirt on the window. I guess I need to go outside and wash all the windows from the winter, then color them with a highlighter!?)
- Try a plastic snake. My mother-in-law has had birds attack her windows in the past and has a few plastic snakes around her house. I hate it because she moves them from time to time and it scares me when I come upon the snake! It has worked for her, to prevent birds from building nests and attacking her windows. This did NOT work for us.
- Open the windows. Our windows fold out so this has been really the only thing that has worked for us. However, with Ohio’s Spring weather, it can be quite cold to have the windows all open, all day.
Last week, that crazy Robin went too far. Now, Mr. Robin is attacking our car windows, he especially hates our side rear-view windows. He pecks and poops all over both cars. We try to hit our house windows to scare him, it sometimes works. We tried yelling at the bird to scare him, it doesn’t work. We even set up colorful displays to scare him from our car.
Luckily, we don’t have many neighbors so they don’t think we are crazy! My husband isn’t very happy or patient with Mr. Robin now. He has to wash our cars off 5 times a day and fears he will scratch it.
Help me save the Robin’s Nest
As you can imagine, we are tired of Mr. Robin and the mess he has created for his lovely bride. It wasn’t until Easter Morning that we even knew where the nest was. Elijah was thrilled to see a robin flying up to the roof overhang of our home. We have a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home with 2 flat roof lines. This is perfect, dry nesting grounds for birds! It made my husband so happy to know where the nest was, it made his Easter!
Well, if it is an empty nest, I have no problem moving it to the woods and wish the Robins the best. However, we are not sure if there are babies yet. We can’t see inside because it is too high. My husband is ready to pull it down and put it in the woods. I’m afraid that there are baby birds in the nest by now and do not want to harm the innocent birds, regardless of the annoying parents!
My husband is such a kind man and he knows that I have a soft heart for living creatures. He would like to move the nest to save our home and especially our car from damage from this crazy bird.
I’m asking you to help me save the Robin’s Nest! Do you know how to transport a nest? Do you know how to stop birds from attacking windows? If I can stop the behavior, there is no problem with the nest remaining under our roof. So, what do you think?
Update: There were no baby birds or eggs in the nest so it magically disappeared. So did all of our bird craziness! They have sense tried to build a nest in 3 other locations on our house but they too, magically disappear. 😉 We are so happy to not have our Robin Problems anymore.
We had a robin’s nest right on our window sill in our bedroom last spring but no problems with pecking glass- but that window has a screen in it . We still don’t have pecking problems on our other windows though- but at times the birds fly into the windows/house and hit it.
Maybe it is just the whole reflection-thing for them? Maybe you need to move the car away from where it reflects “trees” and unfortunately- let it get dirty ;(
I found this information here…socks on the car mirrors sounded kinda cute. 🙂 http://www.sialis.org/windowstrikes.htm
Do you have a local wildlife or park ranger-ish type group you can call about this? One of our state universities has a site office here to help with these kinds of questions.
Wow, that is a dedicated woman, however my situation isn’t abandoned or injured, just ANNOYING! LOL
Wow, sounds like robins are crazy everywhere! There doesn’t seem to be a solution. I added plastic store bags to the rear-view mirrors on our cars and so far, I haven’t seen the robins attacking the cars. I can’t put plastic bags on all the windows though! I think you are right about touching a nest. I just wish I knew if there were eggs or babies in there yet! My husband thinks he saw the birds bringing worms to the nest, so there must be babies now.
I’m having a similar problem at my house, minus the mess thank goodness. For the past 2 years we have had a robin fling itself into our kitchen window. The garage roof is in line with the bottom window and so it can sit and look at itself and then flutters up and into the top window. My house is small so you can hear it where ever you are in the house. And some mornings it even wakes me up. We just go to the window and shew it away. My son likes to sneak up on it and try to scare it. I’ve tried hanging a towel over the window but that doesn’t work. Only having the windows open works (they are the crank-out kind). This happens at least once a day, but usually more like 5-6 times. Oh, and as I look out the window right now, there he/she is. And the window smacking begins for the 2nd time today. My only advice on removal of the nest is that you shouldn’t touch it because I’ve heard the mommy won’t go back to the nest. Good luck! Soon as those babies hatch and are gone, you should be free from your “crazy bird”
Theres a lady named Fran Kitchen she rehabilitates abondoned injured and other wild animals she lives in Kenmore Operation Orphan Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc.
P. O. Box 15042
Akron, Ohio 44314
Rehabilitation of Orphan and Injured Wildlife
Educational Programs
Displays
Not-For-Profit
Phone 330-745-2947
Fran Kitchen, Director