Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Tuesdays with Dory: Deranged Wildlife Edition

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Dear Dory,

A mentally disturbed robin has been flinging himself at my windows all day long. It's loud and annoying, and can't be good for the robin either. What should I do?


Sincerely,

Disturbed in Detroit


Dear Disturbed,

Ideally, you would let your kitteh out to eat the robin. But since you seem to be worried about the robin's health, I doubt you'll go that route.

I asked Kristen to do some research on this issue, and it turns out that the robin is probably seeing his reflection in the window and thinking it's another robin. During mating season, robins are very territorial, so he's likely trying to chase the intruder off, with poor results. 

You could try covering your window with paper or cardboard, which would eliminate the reflection, but be very ugly. It might also bother your home owner's association. And of course, you're out of luck if the windows in question are out of your reach, say, in your entryway with the lovely high ceilings and decorative windows 20 feet above your head. And your robin may just find his enemy lurking in another window--I'm certain you don't want to cover all your windows.

So basically, you're going to have to wait until mating season is over, mid-summer. Good luck. :-/

Maybe you want to reconsider letting your kitteh handle the matter?

Have a purrrrrrrfect day!

Dory

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