Expert: Julia Booth - 4/13/2008

Question
I have a cardinal that has been flying into my windows for a month. I have tried moving things around and i even put papers on the outside of the windows and it still flies into the papers. It is weird as it follows me from room to room to do this. It is like having a radar on the bird and knows which room i am in.
Can you help me?

Answer
Typically birds fly into windows for two reasons. 1. They have terrible depth perception and cannot tell how far away the window actually is. 2. They are displaying aggressive and territorial behavior because they are seeing their own reflection and mistaking it for another bird.

This sounds like something altogether different. You already did what would have been my first suggestion, which is to put the paper up. The fact that he appears to be following you from room to room is odd. It's highly unlikely, but not impossible, that he has somehow taken a liking to you and is trying to woo you. (No it's not unheard of. It happens with parrots all the time -especially when the parrot is male and the owner is female)

I recommend buying some small, cheap mirrors (or similarly shiny objects) and hanging them around your house and garden to distract him. Even consider putting out some artificial cardinals in the trees or something.

If that doesn't work, you might have to get a restraining order.

Kidding...

Good luck,

Julia