BAM! The thick glass vibrates. The house withstands the impact. The feathers fly. I check outside to see if there is anything laying there dazed and confused. Nope. Nothing. Just feathers.
This is common enough that I have had to decide just how many bird imprints I can look through before I clean the windows again. The majestic views from our living room windows are way less majestic when your eyes become distracted by fluttering feathers of fly bys gone wrong.
If you look you will see eyes, beaks, wings. Grayish, ghost like outlines staring back as if they were still flying through. Ghost birds. Certain lighting, certain times of the day it is haunting.
We close the blinds but it happens anyways. The two large windows that face North East and have spectacular views are the only windows this happens to. The rest of the house remains calm. There is no pattern or time of day it happens more often so every time is unnerving.
Cleaning the windows is the equivalent of sending out false radar directing the birds to fly straight into the clear glass at high speed. It must be done with consideration.
The longest I have let it go since we moved here in May was 8 imprints. I couldn’t take it anymore! That was on ONE window! I had to clean off the carnage.
The larger birds seem to have better navigational skills thankfully because I’m pretty sure a good sized hawk at full speed is going to do some damage.
Hummingbirds also seem to have no problem whatsoever flying safely around these windows. So skilled at flying, hummingbirds will hover near the window inspecting the wreckage from the poor flying of another and actually gossip to one another about it. Hummingbirds can and do laugh. I’ve seen it. They obviously don’t believe in ghost birds.
It took me weeks of trying to get shots this clear on my IPad. Most of the time it couldn’t focus and would simply look through the imprint and window. If you have read Intro to Wildlife Photography you already know I only use an iPad and I would have no idea how to edit or “doctor” a photo. These are the real deal. Ghost Birds.
adesertviewwithstace 
You must be logged in to post a comment.