What do you do to help prevent birds from hitting windows?

I'll try to figure out how to post the floor plan.

Yes, I think he'd mind.

Well, WE could, but usually it's just the guys. I'd be up to changing that for any trip! You any good at dragging big fish out of coral reefs?

This negotiation is similar to many that I have experienced with your gender. I only get half of the answers and the ones that I get aren't what I wanted. :)

What's wrong with our gender?

That's a loaded question! I think that it was best said by "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em". I'm sure that most feel the same way.

1st Floor

2nd Story

Why I've never tried to drag a big fish out of a coral reef, but I'll do anything at least once. I wouldn't even mind a bunch of guys. What negotiations? I thought it was settled. You're moving here silly. You're coming this weekend anyway, at least you said you were. It's all about adapting honey, and being with the Jennifer look a like, remember?

Yup, that was a loaded question. Women do those kinds of things. It's called be petty. I'm sure you can relate.

Nice floor plan. Scaled down? Sheesh, what did it look like before you scaled it down?

Terry, Pages, photos, everything. It's been a problem for a few days.

"If you weren’t married I’d be on my way this weekend!"

Stelco aka Mark

I've had more bad luck than just having my house burn down. I'd LOVE to find one that I could live with (for more than a year, or so)!!!

Thanks for the thumbs up on the plans. It will be about 400 sq. ft. smaller.

Don't let that last one get you down. Aside from that, we women are all difficult to live with but then you men aren't exactly peaches yourselves. Just give us your credit cards and we'll be just fine. This past weekend I came around front to talk to one of our neighbors in our driveway who came over to ask me about his (gag choke barf) burning bushes and wanted to know what he could do to prune them or otherwise perk them up. I was being polite (neighbor and all) and basically told him to leave them alone and see what happened next spring and that if they didn't survive... I'd give him two nice Fothergilla that had even nicer fall color than the existing burning bushes...all the while... unbeknownst to me... behind my back... my husband was offering the neighbor his head set that he wears when he cuts the lawn. No wonder why the neighbor looked like he was about ready to break out laughing. I didn't think what I was saying was funny yet the neighbor seemed to be smirking. Did I mention my husband was wearing a t-shirt that said "I caaaaaaaaan't hear you"? I tell ya this man is cruisin for a bruisin!

Oh that little married thang? You need to find a woman like me. I'm not all that high maintenance. I don't even like big houses (sorry Equil). I like ones that are smaller and cozier and well, one where I can find you when I need you......

Ooooooh Equil!! I'd love a fothergilla!

Now everybody, it's getting way past my nighty night time. Off I go, to bed, all alone....Mark?? Mark?? Ooops, I mean John, John, were are you John? Oh that's right. He's at work. Mark? Oh that's right. He's in MI. I just can't win. What's a girl gotta do anyway??

Ya, that "not so little thing" needs to have those ear protection things rammed where the sun don't shine. After 20 years you think he'd get it that I am fragile and oh so sensitive.

I like small houses myself. I'd like to have a little cape cod with a white picket fence, an upper balcony, and a big porch.

You're stiffed out of the Fothergilla major because I am offered them to the neighbors with that pond by their back sunroom directly across the street from me. No sense making them wait till next spring to see if those burning bushes make it or not since the guy is convinced they look sickly. Far be it for me to talk him out of removing those things.

Note to self:

Must keep working on teleporter!!!!

ha ha ha- a teleporter.

I have pulled large fish out of coral reefs. I've pulled up Red Snapper and Grouper out of some pretty deep water. I've also landed a trophy king mackeral too. Over 40lbs if I recall. Had I caught that fish a week earlier, I would have won around 10k in the fishing tournament.

Illinois has salmon too. From Terry's house its about a two hour drive to Lake Michigan.

I usually do my salmon fishing in Wisconsin though - its around a three hour drive to Two Rivers - where I go for steelhead in the spring and coho in the fall.

Don't get me started about living with the opposite sex.... I think my husband & I would get along much better if we didn't have to live together.

Uh oh... competiton enters the scene.

Well I'm sure Mark will want to have joe come along with us. That way, she can get the fish while we're otherwise busy. Ya know, swabbing the deck and all.

See that Mark? Lake Michigan is only 2 hours away. Got that teleporter up and running yet? It was so cold and lonely last night being all alone in my big bed, and to think I have to do it all over again tonight..........

I'll come over and bring my space heater. It would be like the ultimate girl's pajama party. We could stay up until the wee hours of the morning only instead of gossiping, we could talk plants.

Three of us? Summers in Illinois and winters in Key West?

These teleporters are tricky. You don't want to make any mistakes!

I've got the space heater going now and I'm still cold. Something needs to warm me up. The 3 of us, I can see it now, you have Jennifer and you have Phyllis, but who's the 3rd? Who does the 3rd look like? I think it's only fair, you know what we look like, but we're (or maybe just me) is clueless on what you look like. George Clooney perhaps?

When do we leave for Key West?

Equil, are you on your way while Mark fine tunes that teleporter?

I have no idea who joe looks like other than tired like us because she works full time, is married, and I think she has kids too. She'll have to tell us. I'm all for Key West right about now. We can drive up to Fairchild Gardens and Mark can be our chaperone to keep us out of trouble.

I do work full time... I am married, but I have no children. I do have two dogs who are spoiled much more than most children. (I've been told I look like Camryn Manheim?)

Dogs count.

But this will be a dogless trip, correct? I wouldn't want my little Zoey killing any of your dogs. When do we leave? Mark? Ohhhhh Maaaarrrk..........

What's a Zoey??????? Is that something like a baby Kangaroo????

Off to Google Camryn Manheim.

OH, OH! I'm not sure how many will be going, but I'm booking a bigger charter boat already.

Scoops and plastic bags will have to be added to the list if dogs are coming, too.

This was my first Google hit:

Thats a great pic! Looks like just like me - lol!

Hey! Be nice now. Mark hon, Zoey is my long haired chihuahua. Wanna see a pic?


joe, that's a great pic of you!

And now my baby.........

Cutest darn little thing but I still say it's a perpetual bark-o-matic toilet bowl scrubber without a handle!

Here's our new puppy and no need to tell me he's uhhhhgly, we already know that and he is a perpetual chew-o-matic-

Equi, your dog is not ugly!! He's just unique and is it just me or does he look a little like Tom Selleck?

Terry, your dog is cute!!

You are one of the first to describe him as unique. That photo was taken a few months ago when he was only 10 months old. He's grown a lot since then and is beginning to fill out so he doesn't look so gangly and homely any longer but let's face it... that's no little cutie pie like what Terry has.

He may not be cute but he must be handsome!!

No, not handsome either. Awkward and goofy looking. He still squats to pee which is normal given he's so darn young and I must admit people giggle when they figure out he's just barely over a year after they see him do the puppy squat which is a dead give away to most people who know dogs. His appearance is hard to describe but silly looking might sum it up quite nicely. He's good with people and other animals but he's definitely no elegant looking dog. I like the hairy ones better like what Terry has but collies and setters are nice too. I guess it's just personal preference.

By the way, that dog is about as non aggressive as they come and he gets beat up by our cats all the time. Pa pow! Smack! Slam to lower left! They are constantly nailing him for getting in a few too many sniffs or whatever. I suspect Zoey could do a number on him too.

Thanks pepper. She's my little baby....spoiled rotten, so people keep telling me :o)

Equil, I think your dog is quite handsome. Just something about him. I believe that's the dog you had just got when we visited? With my allergies, there's only so many dogs that I can have or be around really. I once had a beautiful Setter/Collie mix. He didn't bother me in the least. But get me around a setter, and I'm sneezing all the way outside. Same with a Collie. Labs, Retrievers, anything. Even little dogs like a Pomeranian or a Yorkie. Geez, just name it and I'm allergic. One lick on me and I've got hives. I'm pretty much stuck with Poodles, Maltese, Bichon Frise, any of those or a mix of those. And Chihuahua's, something about them that's "holistic". Don't ask me, all I know is it's true.

I still thinks he looks like Tom Selleck. It's the eyes. I love dogs of all kinds. And they love me and are sad when I leave because they know they won't get a ton of attention again til i come back. lol. I have a friend who has a german sheppard and she doesn't take to people right away usually, but when she first met me she literally jumped into the chair where I was sitting and just started wagging her tail and going nuts. I am now officially her aunt and one of her favorite people. lol

Here's a question for you. My parents have a woodpecker that is enamored with itself and keeps landing on the outside ledge of their sunroom and pecking at the window. How do they get her to move on? And yes, it is a her. My mom loves watching the birds and all the wildlife from that window, but this woodpecker is making a "mess" on the window.

Oh my word, there is a thread out there started by scutler that addresses just this issue. You have got to go read that thread. It is absolutely hysterical.

Please visit here but best to go pee first as you will experience one depends moment after the next. Don't be drinking anything and reading at the same time either or else it will end up in your keyboard.

Consider yourself warned. Here's a link to the thread-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/548658/

Backing up to birds and artificial threats/human assisted competitors for a bit, I thought I would post a link-
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw04/0829catsbirds.htm

If you have the time or an interest, please read the entire article as I found it very interesting.
Please note that data on health-related causes of avian death, such as West Niles Virus, was not included. Also please note that data on cats was not included.

The author summed up cats this way, "Whether or not you agree with those findings, I hope that you will see that cats pose a serious problem for birds." I would like to also point out comments made by another individual Liz Day,
"Many human activities lead to environmental damage in one degree or another. We clear, farm, flood, drain, divide, and build upon our surroundings with alacrity. We have also begun to realize that we can take steps to minimize the damage we do........

One way human beings damage the environment is by breeding animals to suit their own purposes. An example of such an "artificial animal" is the domestic cat, which provides affection and companionship for its owner and sometimes reduces domestic pests; unfortunately, it also hunts wild birds with little regard to its own food needs. Some domestic cats probably do little damage to wild birds. Others have single-handedly sent entire species into extinction.

If you own a cat, you can take steps to diminish its take. You can keep it indoors... Perhaps those steps will have little impact; perhaps your cat will only kill one fewer bird during its lifetime than it would have otherwise. Remember that there are billions of cats in the world, and, for example, only a few hundred Kirtland's Warblers.

Invocations of "the survival of the fittest" are not relevant here. Perhaps many birds are not competent to compete with housecats, or DDT, or highway construction programs. Nevertheless, we wish to preserve those birds because they pre-date their human-assisted competitors, because they represent irreplaceable parts of our world, and because they are beautiful."

Lance Laviolette contributed this,
"General bird mortality estimates from human activity in the U.S can be found at http://www.fws.gov/birds/Mortality-Fact-Sheet.pdf The ranges are rather broad and are derived from a number of different studies. To summarize the maximum numbers in decreasing order:

Window collisions: as high as 976 million
Cats: as high as hundreds of millions
Powerline collisions: as high as 174 million
Poisoning: at least 72 million
Automobile collisions: as high as 60 million
Communication tower collisions: as high as 50 million
Oil and wastewater pits: as high as 2 million
Fisheries bycatch: as high as hundreds of thousands

They do indicate that habitat loss and/or degredation is the greatest threat to birds and other wildlife."

Note where window collisions are in that they are at the top of this list too. Please note that again, data on health-related causes of avian death is not included.

This statement by David Klauber sums up any artificial threat (windows, HOSPs, EUSTs, etc.) to native birds for me, "Cats indeed may not be the largest source of bird mortality, but it would seem that they are one of the more controllable sources, as opposed to radar towers, certain diseases, and road kills. Hawks, starvation, weasels, and maybe some non-imported diseases could reasonably fall under the balance of nature, needing no intervention."

Controllable being a fine choice of words because there are many things within our control that we can do to help reduce native bird mortality. Everyone has windows out there. Please consider trying to do something about your windows if at all possible. Windows pose a serious problem to native birds. Imagine the collective impact we could have on native bird populations if we all neutered and spayed our cats and kept them inside while trying to do something about our windows.

The human assisted threats, be it feeding the HOSP and/or EUST and allowing them to breed, I would think would have very high numbers also.