Boy invents bird-warning for glass windows

Hi all, I so enjoy reading in here and when I ran across this article I thought some of you might like to know of it.

A young man has invented an invisible bird warning decal for glass windows, so birds know not to collide with them!

Here is the link and an excerpt:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/01/21/ot-090121-bird-decals.html

Eighth grader Charlie Sobcov wants to stop birds from dying in collisions with windows, but he doesn't want to ruin anybody's view.

For his latest school science fair project he has invented painted, plastic decals that can be placed — discreetly — right in the middle of a window pane.

"This paint is a colour that birds can see but humans can't," he said Wednesday on CBC Radio's All in a Day. "It's like putting a big stop sign in the middle of the window."

The colour is ultraviolet, beyond the range of colours visible to humans. That means the "stop sign" lets birds know the window is solid, but is nearly invisible to humans.

Similar flying falcon-shaped decals already exist on the windows of some buildings, but unlike Sobcov's, they are black and can obstruct part of the window.

That's great; what a smart young man.

Yes. I hope his idea gets taken up and manufactured by someone and becomes available to all us birdlovers! ;-)

I wonder how this differs from the decals on the market already.

My thoughts exactly. They look to be made of the same stuff that the hummingbird shaped ones that I've had for a year or more. I think that I got them free in Birds and blooms magazine. I know that they have bee on the market for years...

Hmm, i think maybe the difference is that his use ultraviolet paint while these others only reflect ultraviolet light.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13244

Hmm. Well, the article said the ones already available were visible to humans whereas this one is not. Sorry if I reported "old news". ;-)

Kyla

no, i dont' think it's old news at all. I am just curious as to what the difference is, scientifically speaking!

And I also LOVE it that a kid that age is interested in birds.

and invented something!! great story