For three or four years now we've had problems with rooks,-or a rook (?), problem there they all look the same,. It, they, want to bash their brains out on the windows. A couple of the DG windows are badly and permanently scratched. This last year it's got particularly bad and usually starts at about 5 am. We guess its territorial and a result of reflection. the usual dangly shiny things or festooning the window with raptor cutouts don't seem to deter and the internet is not much help either. I remember one of my clients a few years ago, whose house was frequently the scene of thrush suicides.
First; anyone got any bright ideas for a solution short of a shotgun.
Second; Is the increasing useage of huge glazed areas in out homes very bad, not only from an insulation point of view, but also from a wildlife perspective?
Third; Bit of a daft question, but are there any non reflective sealed units?

Edit: We OWLS generally don't have a problem, being mainly nocturnal.

We stopped cleaning the windows!

Maybe non reflective glass or a foliar. It is illegal to shoot rooks as far as I am aware so not a good option

Another way might be to use the black mosquito netting to reduce the reflection.

Jonti

Should have shot it yesterday, apparently:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3300692/Pie-from-the-sky.html

Down here in Somerset the rooks are a pest but boy are they wise! You seem to be able to walk around without a gun and they totally ignore me but if you just think about getting one out of the cabinet they are off! They do make a mess of windows but my theory is that they are showing off. I have often seen a male going hammer and tongs against his reflection in a window whilst (presumably) a female walks around underneath admiring the performance; they then fly off together. We tried the usual things to scare them away but nothing really worked other than having a dog or cat in the area. The saving grace is that here it only went on for one season, the following spring the rooks were still here but not attacking the windows.

There must be a way of coating glass with a non reflective surface at least in one direction. Non reflective picture glass has been used for years although that does appear to achieve it's result via a slightly abraded surface rather than a coating, I may be wrong. Exterior shutters are possibly another option.

''Wish windows attracted high speed Seagulls.''

Our big (1960's-style) picture window in Swansea did! I was pretty amazed it did not get broken.

Posted By: djh...........An external flyscreen mesh might be a reasonably cheap possibility.

Sort of external grade mesh roller blind might do the job.

Posted By: owlmanThere must be a way of coating glass with a non reflective surface at least in one direction

Uniform thin films tend to have a colour(s) which most people wouldn't like on windows (sometimes these are present on high performance PV too). There are a class of nano structures often known as moth eye that will do it and increase your solar gain too but as as dgh says

Posted By: djh. I guess it is simply the cost

The future? 2005:

http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/aboutus/The-Co-operative-Group-Values-and-Principles/ourvaluesinaction/thesolartower/

Quite often see the crows and magpies duelling with buzzards and seagulls down here.

The real nasty one is a Robin. I have been attacked by one in a shed. They can hover like a humming bird.

Posted By: JontiUsing the silhouettes of birds of prey is probably useless when it comes to crows as they will usually have a go at any hawk, kites, etc.... in an attempt to chase them off. Seems to me, having stickers of such birds on the window will be more likely to encourage crows to attack your windows than frighten them off.

You could be right although I didn't see piles of squashed face crows, maybe they don't get crows near the black forest...nor parakeets apparently, in fact there was a distinct lack of "this bird is extinct" evidence altogether