We have a Bullock’s Oriole that taps on a window for about 10 min daily. Does someone have an explanation for this behaviour?
I think birds see their reflection and try to fight or otherwise engage with the “other bird”? I have seen several bird species peck at my car’s side mirrors when I am parked outside.
A few years back I recorded this red bill gull that over a period of three days kept coming back to fight itself in the reflection of our old centre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqJMlotb-SU
I think it eventually figured out the other bird wouldnt back down.
Do you feed birds in your yard? Sometimes they figure out the source of food, and come asking for more. See Amy Tan’s discussion of this in “The Backyard Bird Chronicles.”
We have some Tree Swallows nesting out back of our house, and the male is doing the same thing. I think he’s trying to chase his reflection away from his girl.
Male or female Bullock’s Oriole?
Similar to the comment by @twainwright, several years ago i was intermittently feeding mealworms to a pair of Bullock’s orioles that were nesting in the yard. We had a prolonged cold snap, during which the female started to fly to my windows. At first i thought it was the fighting her reflection thing, but then i realized she was flying to the screen side of the window and hanging there for a moment, and then it dawned on me she was trying to get my attention. So i went to town, purchased mealworms, put some out, and she was immediately there to feed on them. After that, she would bonk on the window to get my attention if the glass container was empty. That nest failed, but they were able to re-nest successfully.