On Behalf of the Birds

A rufous hummingbird, photo taken by Mary Kiesau

Like a good gardener chronicling successes and failures in the garden, I diligently keep a list of my concerns and observations of our property and all of the related chores I wish I might get to in the spring and summer to come.  This list is often inspired as much by rational thought as panic, when I witness the march of weeds throughout my neighborhood and property:  call the County to order beneficial insects, mow whitetop, pull cheat and bulbous bluegrass in May, pull Barnaby in the heat of July, (ugh) an outbreak of Russian thistle to pull in August.  Then the shortening days of September give me an out to my semi-successful campaign, nothing more I can do about the weeds it seems. 

One priority item on my list that was truly successful this year, surprising me I have to say, is preventing the window kills of songbirds at our house.  For 9 years we lived in yurts on our property, with vinyl windows and wooden slats ensuring that even the most careless bird would not be drawn in.

The first spring we built our house changed all of that; songbirds, particularly in May and June, met their death on our windows with such regularity that my daughter Sally and I tried putting up stickers, hanging reflective tape, keeping the shades drawn, providing safe haven to stunned birds hoping they would revive.  We listened with dread when the smack on the windows would sound.  Was it a bad one?  We knew based upon how loud the smack.  In spite of our efforts, none of these measures seemed to help.

Okay, we thought, let’s move the birdfeeder, it must be too close to the house.  This proved to be disastrous!  Now with the feeder 100 feet from the house, the birds had just enough opportunity to gather speed and hit our windows with this greater velocity.  Moving the feeder was not the silver bullet we had hoped for. 

Could taking down the feeder altogether help to solve this?  We tried it, taking down the feeder that provides us with so much awe and enjoyment… and lo and behold, this spring and summer, we reduced our bird strike deaths to just a few.  And though I really do miss seeing the birds out our windows with greater regularity, I am greatly relieved to have found a solution on my property that makes a positive impact on birds and their survival in the Methow.

My to do list for next year?  Pulling and mowing weeds of course, keeping the bird feeder down to test my theory for another season, and taking hikes with Sally, our binoculars and bird book, to enjoy and identify the fabulous songbirds in the Valley. 

When she's not caring for her beautiful property and all of its wildlife, Jeanne White serves as the Methow Conservancy's Land Project Manager, helping conservation easements come to life!