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You know I was so happy when our first eastern bluebirds moved in. After all, we provided
native plants, supplemental food, water, and specifically designed shelter to give them
the habitat we knew they’d need to raise a family. But then, things turned ugly. Early
every morning, my family awoke to the really distressing sounds of a bluebird trying to
bash himself through our bedroom windows. For hours at a time, the bluebird repeatedly
struck the window. As a wildlife biologist, I thought I understood the problem. He was
just trying to guard his favorite female bluebird from an interloper, which turned out to be
his reflection in the window. But as a wildlife enthusiast, I felt awful.
After all, he should have been spending time searching for food, building a nest, and trying
to impress his girl with more worthwhile pursuits. So I searched for a solution, and found one
experiment that I could try right away. The fluorescent grid method, or the Yellow Highlighter
Trick, first explained by Ornithologist, author and illustrator David Sibley. You’ll need
some materials to clean your windows. I used regular window cleaner and a microfiber cloth,
and a highlighter. Any type of highlighter will work, since nearly all have a pigment
that’s visible to birds, but difficult for humans to see through a window. First, clean
the inside of your window. If you don’t, the dust on the pane will clog the highlighter.
Next, use the highlighter to draw lines on the inside of the window. David Sibley recommends
that the horizontal lines are less than 2 inches apart, and the vertical lines less
than 4 inches apart. The grid doesn’t need to be perfect, but the closer you can keep
to those dimensions, the better the method will work. Be sure to reapply every week or
two, since the florescence fades. Most people who tried this method report good success,
and happily it seems to have worked for our family too.
I hope it works for you too, and wish you quiet gentle mornings. If you’d like to
continue to support wildlife management and conservation in the state of Texas, please
consider purchasing a horned lizard license plate. The plate costs just $30, and $22 of
that goes directly to support on the ground conservation projects coordinated through
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and our partners.