Lately, you have seen birds dying around your house and worried about the cause of death? You will see in detail in this article about what are the causes of the death, how to avoid them and also what to do when you find a dead bird.
If birds keep dying around your house, the reasons for the death are hitting the windows or house borders by mistake. Other reasons are poisonous food, traffic that can hit them, pets which eat them, illness and ageing.
There are several reasons due to which birds can keep dying in your backyard or around your house. Below are the reasons and what to do in case of each type of scenario in which you find a dead bird.
Birds dying by hitting the windows
If you find several birds dying near the window or any such element that is part of your residential borders, it is mostly due to birds hitting the windows or that border by mistake. Particularly windows create an illusion the area that is looking in the glass of window is extended part of the garden, and birds by mistake would not see the mirror and can get hit by the windows.
Tips to avoid birds dying by windows: In that case, you can make some changes on windows to make sure they do not become lighted windows and show mirror effects that can cause a bird to die.
Paint horizontal and vertical markings with 2-4 inches of space, or use decals, ABC bird tapes, Acopian bird savers, one way transparent paints on the windows.
These would make it clear to the birds that there is a wall type window in their path and they should not try passing through it.
Heavy use of chemicals, pesticides can cause birds dying by your house
In case you are using pesticides in your garden, or using a lot of chemicals for any activity around your house, there is a high possibility of birds feeding on some food in your house that got these chemicals inside it, hence falling sick.
Tip to avoid death of birds due to chemicals: If you know that many birds visit your backyard, then it is best to keep your vegetation or gardening organic. Or keep a separate area for birds away from areas where you use chemicals. Do not allow birds into other areas of your garden where the chemicals might get used.
Birds can keep dying due to predator animals or birds around the house
If there are outside cats and other animals that can eat birds, check if any of them have come recently around your house. Usually pet animals inside your house are not much of a worry but outside predators can cause birds to die as they attack them.
Tip to avoid death by other animals or pets: You can avoid birds in areas of your garden or backyard where more of these animals can stay or roam. Or drive the animals away from your backyard by use of different methods such as scaring them, using chemicals to smell them away.
Possibility of bird virus or bacteria spread can cause birds dying around your house
Any seasonal viruses or bacteria that are spreading across birds from one bird to another as they meet, mate and gather for food can also cause a lot of birds dying around your house.
Tip to help birds avoid viruses and bacteria: You need to keep an eye on standard news on any bird illnesses in your city and country. Particularly, if you are feeding birds on a daily basis, a mix of good nutrients or medicine as prescribed by a specialist can stop birds getting affected by viruses or bacteria.
Poisonous food can cause birds dying near the house
If you are feeding the backyard birds regularly, any poison that got mixed into the food can cause the birds to die. Also, poisonous foods used in the home to actually kill rats and other insects can cause the birds to die, if they feed upon that food by mistake.
Tips for avoiding death by food: Keep a regular check on the food you are feeding the backyard birds and also be careful when you keep any poisonous food to kill other creatures such as mosquitoes, rats and insects so that those are not consumed by birds.
Illness can spread or birds can also die due to ageing
Birds are often prone to respiratory illnesses and also ageing factors can affect birds’ health. In case, there are too many aged birds in your surroundings or an illness is spreading across all the birds, you might start seeing birds dying in large numbers in your surroundings.
Busy traffic near the house can cause birds to die
If there is a lot of movement near your house and too much traffic, birds getting hit by cars and other moving vehicles can cause problems to the birds.
What to do when you find a dead bird?
When you find a bird dead, you can use a glove while cleaning the bird away. Clean the area first, dig a deeper hole and then bury the bird deep inside to keep it away from other predators as well as spreading any diseases.
In case it is a pet bird or a regular bird, you can even do a mini-funeral just to encourage the bonding with the birds within your family and surroundings.
If there are too many birds dying, call your municipality for help and they can do the needful.
When birds keep dying around your house, find out the root cause of the death by analyzing all the above points and make amendments as suggested to avoid further deaths. Check for any visible wounds and signs of disease.
Also check if same species birds are frequently dying in that area, if so analyzing any illnesses or any common behavior of those species will help identify the root cause. Also, check for any new birds that have entered your surroundings recently.
So many birds coming to your house means you can easily get friends with them. Avoid their death, make friends, feed them and enjoy with them.
