The “mirror fighter” phenomenon: throttles attack cars
Created: 06/17/2022, 11:30 am
By: Jasmin Pospiech
It sounds like a horror movie - but it's reality for a neighborhood.
Thrushes peck at windows on houses and cars.
According to NABU, this is normal.
Weinsberg (Baden-Württemberg) – Funny, threatening or mysterious?
For the residents of Weinsberg in Baden-Württemberg, it is probably all three.
Because they are in an awkward position: they are repeatedly attacked by thrushes.
More precisely, not the citizens themselves, but their windows on houses and cars.
Because of this, they are forced to resort to creative measures.
One of them is master electrician Jan Unvericht, who reports to the Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk "SWR" about what the residents are trying to do to help themselves.
The “mirror fighter” phenomenon: throttles attack cars
When it is breeding season, thrushes react very aggressively to possible "rivals".
(Iconic image) © imagebroker/Imago
Accordingly, he put a large plastic raven and an Easter bunny in the window as a deterrent.
But that didn't really work either, on the contrary.
The thrushes react very aggressively and quickly hacked the figures off the window sill.
In the neighborhood, however, two women were able to observe how two thrushes fight with their reflection in the window and on car roofs.
What sounds like a scene from the cult horror film "The Birds" is, according to the German Nature Conservation Union "NABU", completely natural.
This is essentially a phenomenon that is referred to as "mirror fighters" or "mirror fencers".
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The “mirror fighter” phenomenon: Hormones run away with thrushes
When the thrushes and other smaller birds such as robins, blackbirds, but also crows breed in spring and summer, they see a competitor in their own reflection.
They attack the "rival" "with the aim of driving him out of the area," explains NABU expert Dr.
Ulrich Tammler.
But because they don't understand that it's just a reflection, the birds keep pecking at the same pane or window.
They can damage the latter, fortunately the thrushes themselves rarely injure themselves.
When the breeding season is over, the animals also become calmer.
In the meantime, however, the NABU expert advises that it is best to attach stickers or foils with patterns to window and mirror surfaces from the outside.
If you place them inside, the birds will not see them and will continue to attack their reflection.
In addition, it makes sense to pull down the shutters on affected windows.
According to Tammler, cars should either be reparked or the mirrors covered.
