Window Pecking Birds (1 Viewer)

There has been a Blue Tit pecking the mirrors of a Transit Van for over a week at my mums house, and it does this on and off all day. It leans over and pecks its reflection. I thought this was strange, and wondered if its a breeding thing and the bird thinks it has a rival.

Then yesterday, I saw a Male Chaffinch flying up and down an upstairs window at a neighbours house. It flies up pecks and then slides back down the face of the glass, or it sits on the cross bar and pecks its reflection.
Its been doing this on 5 different windows, 2 cars and as of today, its own reflection in the bird bath!

At first its quite amusing, but after 2 days I feel quite sorry for this obviously confussed bird.

Is this a common thing, or have I just found 2 demented birds?

Apparently there are cardinals that do this as well. There was an earlier thread about a cardinal pecking on the window of the house and driving all the inhabitants crazy.

Scott

You're right, Stu. They're trying to drive off what they think are rivals. This behaviour is quite common.

This is typical for this time of the year and the birds are attacking their own reflection. This can be stopped by putting cling film on the outside of the window to change the reflective qualities of the glass. If they are going to more than one window then start with the most frequently attacked window and this may break the pattern.

Ian