mayne@nu.cs.fsu.edu (William Mayne) (01/06/91)
About two weeks ago a male cardinal appeared at the window of my house near Tallahassee, Florida. He perched on a ledge and pecked at the bathroom window. He wasn't easily scared away. At first it was quite amusing to watch him face to face through the glass with our cat and golden retriever. Lately he has switched to a bedroom window, where he wakes us up pecking every morning. I am beginning to be concerned that he'll damage the screen by lighting on it so much. What would cause this sudden strange behaviour? Is there anything I can do to deter him? Also, this particular bird, though he looks like a cardinal in every other way has no crest. Could he be a young male, or is this a seasonal thing? Bill Mayne (mayne@nu.cs.fsu.edu)
rmura@world.std.com (Ron Mura) (01/06/91)
In article <1991Jan5.165340.11289@mailer.cc.fsu.edu> mayne@nu.cs.fsu.edu (William Mayne) writes: > > About two weeks ago a male cardinal appeared at the window of my > house near Tallahassee, Florida. He perched on a ledge and pecked > at the bathroom window. He is probably seeing his reflection in the window, and he is probably trying to drive the "other" cardinal from his territory. There was a good article about birds fighting their reflections in _Bird Watchers' Digest_ a couple of year ago. In the summer of 1989 we had a redstart attack its reflection from early morning until dusk one day. I don't think it even took time to eat. (It gave me a chance to get some nice pictures, though.) It was not there at dawn the next day, so I hope it had moved on to more productive activities. The only ways I can think of to discourage your cardinal is to cover the window. Maybe putting a fake cardinal in some other part of your yard would distract him. I don't know if playing cardinal songs would encourage him to attack more or cause him to leave. -- - Ron Mura, Boston, Mass. rmura@world.std.com