After publishing my Rockin’ Robin post I did some searching on the internet to try to find a solution for our knockin’ robin problem. I was pretty excited when I can across an article, that I believe was put out by the Texas Department of Natural Resources, (I forgot to save the link) that had a simple solution that they claimed not only worked but worked immediately. What I needed to do was take a highlighter (marker) and draw grid lines on the inside of the window. The horizontal lines should be no more than 4 inches apart while the vertical lines should be no more than 2 inches apart. EASY!

After following the procedure I waited, hopeful that this worked to ward off the bird and I would be able to promote this simple method to others who experienced similar problems. Instead I have to be honest and tell you that this did not work. It was about an hour later that the bird was back on the attack – flying into the same window – same place, and he continued to do so throughout the rest of the day. Whether this is a case of don’t believe everything you read on the internet or if birds in Michigan are different than birds in Texas I am not certain. I can’t say that this method would never work just that it did not for me.

After that failure I got off the internet and turned my attention to what I was really witnessing. As mentioned above the bird was consistently flying into the same window at the same spot. Let me explain. There are two windows that are set only a few inches apart giving the appearance of one large window. Each of the two windows also has two panes of glass the lower pane slides upward to open while the upper pane is stationary. The lower panes have screens on the outside to keep bugs out when they are open. The window on the left-hand side has a vinyl mini-blind hanging on it that for the most part remains closed. It also has a curtain. The window on the right-hand side is where the dogs like to look out so the mini-blind was removed quite a while back. (Dogs and mini-blinds do not mix.) That window does have a curtain though. The upper right-hand pane was the only place that the robin was attacking, not the panes covered by screen or mini-blind.

The next thing I did was to take the mini-blind from the left window and move it to the window on the right. Thankfully the brackets were still in place so this was easily accomplished. I raised the blind so that it was only covering the upper pane, this way the dogs can still see out without bothering the blind. It was a real AHA! moment as I observed the bird begin attacking the window on the left and for the most part leaving the window that was covered with the blind alone.

It took a couple of days before we got a new mini-blind hung on the left-hand window. We had to mount new brackets because the new blind would not fit in the old brackets. During those days I was able to observe that the bird was consistently attacking the pane that was not covered by either screen or mini-blind so I was pretty well convinced that hanging a new blind would be an effective way to stop this birds behavior.

It’s only been a couple of days since we hung the second mini blind but I will share what we have observed so far. For what remained of the first day after hanging the blind I did observe the robin at the window a couple of times but he did not hit the window as hard as he had previously been doing. It seemed more like he was just looking, not fighting. My husband noticed that the robin was spending a lot of the day perched on the top of my car which was parked in the driveway right next to the tree. This was a BIG problem because he was pooping all over my car. My husband chased him off when he saw him but neither of us had all day to stand guard.

The second day and now well into the third day he was/is gone. He was not sitting on the car, nor have I witnessed him flying into or up to the window at all. YAY! Peace has been restored to our home and neighborhood. 🙂

I will start by saying that my husband and I have a great appreciation for wildlife lest you get the wrong idea while reading this post.

For the last several years the maple tree outside our bedroom window has been the spring/summer home for a pair of robins. We have been mostly aware of this because one of the robins (the early bird) starts singing very loudly each morning – hours before the sun comes up.

From a distance this Robin’s song may be a soothing sound somewhere in the background of our dreams but from fifteen to twenty feet away, even through a wall/window, it sounds like and dance tune coming on with the speakers at full volume. I don’t think I know anyone who wakes up ready to dance at three or four o’clock in the morning. We certainly don’t.

I do understand that the early bird gets the worm but why is it that only this one feels the need to announce it to the whole world???

Last year one of the Robins started a new annoying behavior. I’m assuming this is the male since their job is protect their family. He began flying into our (closed) window. Not just once but over and over again – day after day.

I have read that one reason for this is that he may see his own reflection in the window and think it is another male threatening his nest or family.

The good news is that this year that the pair have found a different tree in the area to build their home. I can still hear the singing in the early morning hours but it’s coming from a distance and not nearly loud enough to wake me from a restful sleep.

The bad news is that even though they are not living in our tree this knockin’ robin continues to mount aggressive attacks on our bedroom window.

His behavior is baffling to say the least. Is he defending his territory? Is he in some kind of distress?

Or has he completely lost his mind?

Monday as I wrote my word of the week post, and vowed to put more effort into offering grace to the undeserving, I thought of this Robin. Yesterday I decided to try to help him. I taped sheets of newspaper to the inside of the window thinking that this might reduce the reflection (appearance of another robin) or in some other way deter him from slamming his body into the glass. We were out at the farm for most of the day so I really didn’t know if it did any good until this morning when the knockin’ robin was at it again.

So it’s back to the drawing board as they say or favorite search engine as the case my be. I’ll give you an update if I find anything that works. I am also open to suggestions.

Have you ever witnessed this type of behavior in a bird? Do you know of anything that might deter this behavior?