Used to just tape newspaper strips to the windows, now I use those Acopian Birdsavers things

For like 5 years I just taped strips of newspaper to my sliding glass door to try and stop birds from hitting it... worked okay I guess but looked terrible and my wife hated it. Finally last spring after a cedar waxwing hit the bay window in our living room I bought a roll of the ParrotLite gel decals for like $30 online and spaced them out proper according to the 4-inch rule. Has anyone else changed their method after one bad strike made them rethink everything?

3 comments

3 Comments

vals381mo ago

Paper strips, the classic "I give up" bird deterrent.

ninal911mo ago

@vals38 yeah that's exactly it though... paper strips are like the white flag of bird control. My neighbor tried them for like two years straight on his fig tree and the birds just eventually started ignoring them, they'd land right on the strips. Then he moved to those reflective pinwheels and that worked for maybe a month until the crows figured out they weren't actually threats. I think birds are way smarter than we give them credit for, they just adapt to whatever we throw at them.

nathan_barnes26d ago

Wondered if anyone has tried combining the strips with something that moves randomly, like a string of lightweight flags that shift in the wind every few seconds. Birds might get used to static objects fast but unpredictability seems to keep them guessing a bit longer. Maybe if you swap out the decoys every week or two they never really settle into the pattern.