Window feeders - will birds fly in to the window?

Hi Hugh, I had one of these for a short time on the kitchen window but soon took it down, because of the mess. It had been wet but the seed was thrown and stuck on the glass and frame not to mention the poo on the white window frames as well! It was only up a few days so can't really say regarding if it would encourage birds to fly into the window.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Hello Hughietank,
I've no experience of window feeders, but a fair bit in avoiding/discouraging window strikes.

Based on that, I'd be very surprised if window feeders make strikes more likely. Our workaround for window strikes is basically variations on stuff in front of windows; hung in front of them, strung across them, standing up in front of them. This, generally (in our experience) *seems* to "tell" birds that the sky and branches they can see "in" the window are not real. So they may bump off the glass on occasion, but almost never do the fly-straight-into-the-window-at-full-speed thing.

We've also noticed over the years that window strikes appear to be seasonal, and perhaps related to the sun's elevation and to light levels. So perhaps a window feeder would work for some seasons, but not for others. A bit hard to experiment, of course, and you'd need to get informed consent from the birds. ;-)

Then, as Catlady writes, there's always the poo problem...

Good luck!

All the best -
Dave

We have 2 window feeders at home and one on our static caravan. Once they get used to them they are fine, ours are used mostly by tits, finches and sparrows. The collared doves like to have a go too - and yesterday Mr Squirrel was found sitting IN the feeder having his breakfast...