Why do birds keep beating against windows?

Birds are amazing animals that, naturally, can do what humans have always wanted to do: fly from one point to another and see everything from a different angle. The problem is that often, between flights, these birds end up dying or injuring themselves badly simply because they have the habit of bumping into glass windows.

As bizarre as it sounds, more than 100 million birds die each year from this type of accident - those that don't die get hurt badly. The question that remains is: Can't birds see the windows? Are they attracted to their own reflexes? Or get lost because of tree reflections?

The truth is that, according to Professor Graham Martin, who spoke on the subject to Mental Floss, these accidents often happen when birds are fleeing from people or predators: “They probably perceive the reflections of vegetation behind them as a safe haven. ”He explained.

Tragic end

When they are on the run, birds have difficulty processing what is real sky and what is reflection. It is also possible for birds to see their own reflection in the glass and believe that they are facing an enemy during the breeding season.

Martin explains, however, that in the latter case, accidents are often not fatal, as birds tend to approach slowly and not fly when they are in the reproductive phase. As a curiosity, he said that parrots spend a lot of time talking to their reflection when they find a mirror, and it is not yet clear if they think they are talking to another parrot or if they know they are seeing themselves.

In regions known to cause many bird accidents on windows, the windows can be better signaled so that birds understand that they are not in trees or clouds. Just as traffic accidents tend to happen more easily when an obstacle suddenly pops up, birds also crash more because they don't have time to notice the windows.