The bird : royal . Soaring . A brute of call . Muse of Alfred Hitchcock . And from time to time , disposed to plunk its diminutive head into your double - pan window .
More than100 million birdsare estimated to die each year as a result of flying directly into shabu ; even a Bronx cheer that shoot away may suffer internal injuries . Despite being widely thought of asintelligent , most avian metal money are still vulnerable to this ignoble demise . Are they fool around by reflexion of tree diagram ? Are they attacking their own thoughtfulness ?
It ’s a little scrap of both , but that ’s not the whole taradiddle . “ fowl may be attempting a rapid escape when disturbed by the great unwashed or piranha , ” aver Graham Martin , B.Sc . , Ph.D. , D.Sc . , Emeritus Professor , School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham . “ [ They ] probably perceive the reflection of the vegetation behind them as a dependable haven . ”
A bird nervous to flee is n’t likely to be capable to process a lack of actual sky . In other cases , birds might render their own image as a rival during breeding season , but Martin believes these kinds of experiential crisis are n’t usually fatal . “ They more likely take the air up to their reflexion , ” he say . “ Parrots , peculiarly budgerigars , can pass a tenacious time chattering to their reflection in a mirror hung in their cage , but it is not clear whether the bird perceives its reflexion as another bird or whether the mirror is just a bright object that they take an sake in . ”
Plus , bird turf wars in the melodic line normally do n’t leave in high - speed shock . After a brief aeriform tussle , Martin tell , they take it to the ground , “ When one Bronx cheer can pin the other down and aggress with bank bill and infantry . ”
windowpane hit can be cut down if windowpane decalcomania or other signals ( like branch ) help give them some visual cues . bird , like humans , can be guilty of “ looking without see , ” or relying on information that is n’t yet present visually . Martin believes bird are somewhat like auto driver in this regard : data on motorcar collision has shown an accident is more probable to happen when an unexpected obstacle is present , interrupt the nerve pathway in store .
So , if a bird flies into your windowpane , it ’s not because it ’s stupid . It ’s because it was scared . Or disoriented . And remember : we ’re really not so different .
Additional reference :
“ Understanding Bird Collisions with Manmade Objects : A Sensory Ecology Approach,”The International Journal of Avian Science , 2011 [ PDF ] .
