Strange Behavior from Male Northern Cardinal (1 Viewer)

[ewpnet]

Hi,

I have a resident male and female cardinal that reside in our yard most of the year. The male has been exhibiting some odd behavior for the past 5 weeks.

He has been intentionally flying into windows repeatedly. He sits on a branch near a particular window and then launches himself into the glass. He does repeatedly in intervals lasting anywhere from 2 minutes to 10 minutes at a time. It can be several times per day.

I have tried keeping the blinds open, adhering sheets of paper to the glass and scaring him off. However, he keeps doing it every day. Today he just started doing it on an upstairs bathroom window.

I assume he is mistaking his reflection for another male cardinal and taking territorial behavior. However, perhaps there is something mentally wrong with him, as well. Other than that, he seems to be eating ok and thriving.

Any ideas on how I can stop this behavior? I'm afraid he is going to kill himself or break a window.

Thanks,

EP

 

[Azzy]

Yes it's territorial, he's seeing his reflection and attacking it believing it's an invading male. Concerns for him hurting himself are valid, sometimes they can work themselves into exhaustion attackting their reflection.

The only thing I can suggest is to temporarily put coverings on the outside of the windows, or let them get really dirty so the reflection isn't possible. Perhaps keeping the glare off the windows will help to stop reflection from showing. Maybe try hanging something up like aluminium foil that crinkles and shines light to scare him away from windows. Otherwise, without completely blocking off your windows or being around to scare him off every time, there's not much you can do but wait until the season for it is over.

 

[ewpnet]

Thank you Azzy. It's good to know that it's natural behavior, rather than a deranged bird.

I will try blocking out the window from the outside and see what happens.