katana600 Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 For five days a small brown bird has been pecking my metal front door and it is seriously driving me 'round the bend. It is apparently seeing its own reflection in the brass kick plate. I tried lots of things to dissuade it, from setting a box out there to block its view to throwing a shoe at the door. I just went out and used a wet erase marker to draw Xs all over the kick plate and it has been silent for five minutes. Maybe, just maybe we will get some peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Maybe all you needed was a 'No Soliciting' sign? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray P Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 And I thought you were a bird LOVER. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 If Miss Gilbert was banging on the front door, I wouldn't mind a bit. This tiny little brown bird sounds like the police are banging the door down to make a drug bust. How it makes so much noise is a mystery to me. Sterling, I love your idea, I will write NO SOLICITING on the brass plate tomorrow morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex2014 Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 whenever my son goes into a room and closes the door Rocco goes right to the door and knocks knocks knocks until he opens it and is let him in. it is so funny to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Sophie knocks on my door on the weekend and says " morning!" I STILL don't answer that knock until 8am! Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdhouse Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 We've had an extreme infestation of inch worms this spring. They're everywhere. Literally piles of them. Nasty! Apparently the birds prefer to forage for them on the roof. Easier pickin' than in the trees, I guess. Off & on from dawn til dusk, just all of a sudden you can hear them running around like crazy, trying to flip shingles, messing around in the gutters, etc. Maybe a big, ominous shadow or two passes over the sky light. I do get where you're coming from. It can be a little disturbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 It rained hard and washed off my markings and the bird came back. It's more than a knocking, it sounds like a duel to the death. My husband helped me out... by laying a rake across the top step. The bird perches on the rake while presumably laughing like those birds on the Windex commercial as it contemplates tripping me up with this booby trap. Man, scratching around disturbing my shingles would surely be unnerving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 The pecking is incessant. I have tried a number of things including opening the door and dousing the bird with water. It appears to be a Carolina wren according to the photos I have looked up. It even will sit there in a deluge of rain and peck the door. Sometimes it will fly up to sit on the eaves trough to look in the arched window above the door. Today we were awakened at six to the sound of pecking, followed by a very annoyed Miss Gilbert. She called out "Who dat dere?" a few times then grumbled her favorite word of displeasure "Sh!* door!" Too funny, that kind of made up for the early wake up call on a day off. Now, I took a piece of fabric and used magnets on the metal door to cover the brass kickplate. I am thinking this is some kind of activity during mating or nesting season trying to drive off the competitor it sees in the reflection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 From my point of view as an outsider who isn't experiencing the problem, it's quite funny. ...Sorry! However, I appreciate that it must be get very irritating very quickly every time it happens! Hopefully your fabric and magnet idea will help though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdhouse Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I live on a pond, in the woods. No lack of challenges from critters here. But for the most part, we're a live & let live crowd. So first, it's try to find out why that little varmint is so-o-o jazzed about whatever. Around here, first guess bugs, second irresistible nesting site. For both, the best solution is get rid of them. I might also put it out there as a possible solution for the reflection theory, too. Can you live w/o a door knocker for the duration of breeding season? It's only another month'ish. Pretty simple to put a screw in the hole & hang a wreath ...or not. Often, the fixation goes away relatively quickly after the object that drives it is removed. All bets are off if it's hormone-driven, of course. And no disrespect to hubby & his rake (too funny!), but there at least a boat load of other possible deterrents, as well. Things like a few children's pinwheels, a line w/fluttery strips tied to it or a Motion Activated Sprinkler. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Motion+Activated+Sprinkler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 My husband finds it much funnier than I do. Of course, he travels during the week. I wonder if it has a headache, if it is distressed, if it is under constant threat? Nothing has deterred it yet. To me it seems like a mama defending her babies. My guess is the reflection which would account for her sitting on the eaves and seeing a reflection in the window as well. Great idea Val, I was not wanting to take off the kickplate across the bottom of the door because rain can get inside the metal door and cause me more of a mess, but putting the screws back in would surely solve that problem. It is on a brick stoop recessed in brick walls at the front of the house. It wouldn't appear to be a food or water source. But now that you mention it, this is after we had new gutters a couple of months ago and they installed leaf guards. She may be trying to get a drink. That's a far stretch but water reflects too. I will set a bowl of water out there just to test that theory. For now the blessed silence of one day with the magnetic curtain is serene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Okay... I'm the neighbor, that everyone goes too, to my surprise, if their is a crazy bird, rabbit, whatever! I REALLY was shocked that I had this reputation! I'm not an animal hoarder, or crazy...My son, just laughed when people knocked at my door! If a bird knocked at my door, I would answer their knock. We as humans, dont get to pick and choose whom has chosen us.I would just acknowledge that this bird as chosen me and my family. Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 Ah, blessed silence for a week now. If it were a couple of pecks here and there, it would be a friendly welcome. We have feeders on the back side of the house and enjoy the birds outside as much as the two we have inside. But, the kind of obsessive pecking this poor thing has been doing has to be frustrating for the bird too. Something about that reflection had it in a frenzy. I'm sure without the job of pecking, it is happily enjoying its life again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray P Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 It may have found a better door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 One would hope so but this morning at 6:30 I heard a peck-peck-peck. The rain overnight shrunk the fabric and a little sliver of the reflective brass plate was showing. Wouldn't you know? It spotted a piece of brass smaller than my thumb and went right to work pecking away. Maybe I should record it and see if anyone knows Morse code could translate for me. I may just have to remove the brass plate. It has been there for more than ten years and this is the first time we have had a bird take an interest. However, we had landscaping done last August and maybe the nest area for this bird was moved because of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acappella Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Just shows there are mental health problems in other species, not just our own Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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