Birds attacking their reflection
@sprite1950 (30453)
Corsham, England
June 12, 2018 4:18am CST
This morning I had a little bird repeatedly throwing itself at my window attacking its reflection. I have read that some are protecting their young and think their reflection is some kind of predator. Others are naturally aggressive and think it is some kind of rival so they will peck at it, flap their wings or attack with their feet.
For me it seems to be at certain times of the year so I assume that when they have raised their young they will become less aggressive and my windows will take less of a beating!
Does this happen where you are?
14 people like this
13 responses
@Jessabuma (31700)
• Baguio, Philippines
12 Jun 18
Hehehehe!!! That's cute and very interesting ! I have seen a cat attacking his/her reflection on a mirror..
2 people like this
@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
12 Jun 18
I have big greasy marks on my windows where they throw themselves against it. 
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@Jessabuma (31700)
• Baguio, Philippines
12 Jun 18
@sprite1950 hehehe!!! I can imagine how cute they are.
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
@Jessabuma It is cute but some of them stun themselves as they fly at the window too hard!
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@sw8sincere (5204)
• Philippines
12 Jun 18
I have seen a neighbors dog attacking itself to its own reflection towards a shiny well painted car.
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
Yes dogs can be very funny when they see their own reflections
@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
They they are very brave when protecting their young!
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
@LadyDuck Yes and the cats back off. I am quite frightened of swans as they can really do some harm with those beaks.
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@LadyDuck (457967)
• Switzerland
13 Jun 18
@sprite1950 I have seen birds attacking cats, they are pretty smart.
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@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Jun 18
Yes, this happens all the time at the big windows in our office building where I work. It's quite comical to watch sometimes!
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
17 Jun 18
Yes they get quite fierce because they think they see a rival!
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
20 Jun 18
@moffittjc Yeah they get quite vicious flapping their wings and squawking. A few have stunned themselves by hitting the window too hard.
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@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
20 Jun 18
@sprite1950 I think it's quite funny watching birds attack their own reflection in the glass!
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@mlgen1037 (29886)
• Manila, Philippines
12 Jun 18
I have never seen anything like that, Snowdrop. I saw a cat doing that. 
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
We have a lot of birds round where I live and a lot of nests so I expect that's why they do it. They are protecting their young.
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@mlgen1037 (29886)
• Manila, Philippines
13 Jun 18
@sprite1950 That is what I like there because you have different birds that we here dont have and see. It may be their form of defense mechanism?
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
14 Jun 18
@mlgen1037 Yes I think it is. I think you have some lovely birds in the Philippines though. I've seen pictures of them.
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@morgoodie (2645)
• United States
29 Jun 18
I have never had this happen. I have picture windows in the front of my house and I have had a bird hit the window but not hard enough to kill it and never repeatedly like you talk about. It could be the way the light hits the window doesn't cause the birds to see themselves or because I don't have any nests for them to protect.
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
30 Jun 18
Sometimes when I am not expecting it a bird will hit the window so hard that it makes me jump. It's not happening much at the moment so I guess the babies are leaving the nest.
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@morgoodie (2645)
• United States
30 Jun 18
@sprite1950 Yeah when the bird hit my window, I jumped too. It was quite unexpected.
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@caopaopao (12395)
• China
12 Jun 18
My cat looks at the cat in the mirror and feels confused. It's like when my daughter looked in the mirror when she was a kid, she was confused.
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
Ye it's quite sweet when children do it 
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@JESSY3236 (18923)
• United States
12 Jun 18
not recently. But I have seen a bird attack it's reflection of a car.
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
They just don't seem to realise it is themselves they can see
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@Deepizzaguy (94471)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
20 Jun 18
As far I as know there are no birds coming near a window to do the activity that you have mentioned.
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
20 Jun 18
They usually do it here in the spring when they have babies to protect,
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@Deepizzaguy (94471)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
26 Jun 18
@sprite1950 Thank you for sharing the info.
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@Hannihar (129418)
• Israel
2 Sep 18
@sprite1950
That must hurt and I bet your window is a real mess afterward. I have shown my cat herself in the mirror and she does not really care.
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
12 Jun 18
I have seen them do it on other windows and car side mirrors. I wondered what they were trying to do.
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
I was reading that they do it on car mirrors but I've never actually seen one do that. It's mainly hurling themselves at my windows!
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@sprite1950 (30453)
• Corsham, England
13 Jun 18
I think it's quite funny when they get annoyed with their own reflection.
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