Every day since Thanksgiving, we have had a bright red male cardinal fly himself into our kitchen windows...repeatedly...for hours...ad nauseum.
He stands post and then thrusts himself into the glass. I wondered if he is troubled psychologically or if there is a natural explanation.
He stands post and then thrusts himself into the glass. I wondered if he is troubled psychologically or if there is a natural explanation.
Upon asking google, I found a few possible answers:- an old wives tale says a bird flying into a window means someone is going to, or has, died
- the beginning of "the day our feathered friends ran amok..." (Hitchcock)
- the male bird sees his reflection and is fighting to defend his territory
Out of the choices, including my first idea that he was troubled, I think we'll go with the last theory after learning how territorial cardinals and robins are.
Carly would be happy to know that I'm going to reach back into my science brain (it's very little) and remember how to perform an experiment using the hypothesis that our feathered friend sees his reflection and reacts violently to defend his territory. Today I'm going to create a new variable in his scenario: hanging something in the window to reduce or remove the reflection.
3 comments:
i just laughed out loud. we had a girl cardinal do that at my grandmothers because she has a stain glass cardinal and the silly bird thought she was flirting!
Ha ha ha ha. So what happened after you obstructed his view?
ok, update: i researched that birds of prey would scare them away while their view was obstructed...but turns out this cardinal is just too tough for that. he has decided to attack. and i must come up with a new part of the experiment to test against the control...i hear soaping the windows could work:)
Post a Comment