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When a bird looks at a window, it sees the reflection of the ground or the sky, so it thinks it’s found somewhere safe to fly. Unfortunately, this leads to as many as 1 billion bird deaths each year in the U.S. alone. To help prevent this from happening in your home, cover your windows with light-colored blinds or curtains, or place window decals or screens over the glass to make the windows less reflective.  Keep your drapes or blinds closed when you aren’t home, since they won’t protect the birds if they’re open. You can also use suncatchers or stained glass to help keep birds from flying into your windows. Cats are natural hunters, and that instinct will lead them to chase and kill birds even if they’re already well-fed. If you have a cat, keep it indoors as much as possible, or provide it with a screened-in area on your porch or patio, often called a catio, where it can enjoy the outdoors without posing a threat to local wildlife.  If you do need to let your cat outside, consider fitting it with a breakaway collar with a bell. The bell will let birds know when the cat is approaching, which may give enough warning to get away.  Keeping your cat indoors can also extend its lifespan, since it has less of a risk of being injured, captured, or trapped. Indoor-only cats also have less risk of being exposed to dangerous illnesses.  You can find tutorials online for building your own catio! Shrubs and small trees are excellent hiding places for predators like cats and hawks that might prey on smaller birds. Avoid putting your bird feeder too close to these or other hiding places. That way, it will be harder for the predators to ambush birds while they’re eating. You should also ensure that the bird feeders are away from any windows. If a bird becomes startled while it’s eating, it might fly into the window and get hurt. Birds can sometimes carry bacteria or parasites, which can then be spread to other birds if you don’t clean your bird bath or your bird feeder. Change the water in your bird bath every day, and change the seed in your feeder every 3 or 4 days when the weather is dry, or every day if it’s wet or snowy outside. Moisture can also cause mold to grow in your bird feeder, posing an additional risk to the birds. Birds have very delicate systems, and chemical pesticides can harm or even kill them. Avoid using foggers, which disperse chemicals through the air. Instead, opt for non-toxic pest control methods, like diatomaceous earth or a plant spray made from hot peppers and garlic, for instance. If you’re having trouble with a specific pest, do a search online for organic or non-toxic methods to remove that specific insect or animal. Native plants are the plants which naturally grow in the area where you live. They tend to thrive without much assistance, and they’ll provide a natural habitat for your birds to live in. In addition, they may provide local birds with an additional food source, either from the berries and seeds the plants produce, or by attracting native insects that the birds can eat. Search online to learn more about which plants are native to your area. In most cases, if you see a baby bird on the ground, it’s probably a fledgling, or a bird that’s trying to learn to fly. Typically, the bird’s parents will be close enough to watch the bird, even if you can’t see it right away. If you’re not sure whether the baby bird is being tended to, watch it for several hours to see if its parents bring it food.  If you see a baby bird on the ground and it doesn’t have any feathers, gently scoop it up from underneath and place it into its nest or a nearby sturdy branch. If the bird is obviously injured or orphaned, call a wildlife conservation organization. In many places, it’s illegal to try to rescue and raise a wild bird on your own.
Cover your windows with drapes, blinds, or decals. Keep cats indoors or on a catio. Place bird feeders at least 10–12 ft (3.0–3.7 m) away from shrubs. Clean your bird bath and bird feeders regularly. Avoid the use of pesticides in your yard. Add native plants to your yard or garden. Don’t try to rescue baby birds you see on the ground.