Critters are alive and well even in your yard

   Probably due to the loss of habitat we're seeing more wildlife in and around our yards. We have a pheasant, some wild turkeys, an occasional deer or two, and rabbits galore, come through our yard from time to time.
   While our bird population doesn't seem to have changed; we are still seeing robins, finches, sparrows, blue jays and cardinals.
   It's the latter bird, a pair of cardinals, that holds our attention every day. The male bird always sits nearby as his female partner goes to work.
   From sunrise to dusk, the female cardinal pounds on our glass door wall. Once she tires of the door wall, she and her male companion fly around to the front of our house whee she starts attacking one of our bedroom windows.
   Sometime later she'll move over to our bay window, pick her favorite side and begin attacking it. At first we thought she was seeing something in the house that was attracting her.
   She just doesn't peck at the windows.
   Rather she flies head on into them with both her beak and head making contact about the same time with the window.  As soon as one charge is over she begins another.
   This goes on all day long and is very loud. In fact, she hits the windows so hard we first thought she had injured herself.
   Checking with Cornell Lab of Ornithology they agree that she sees her reflection and think that represents an intruder.
   If you have a similar problem visit www.allaboutbirds.org and scroll down to "Why birds attack windows."
   Several suggestions are offered to prevent this from happening or from birds injuring themselves. Two of the three species mentioned that use this behavior to defend nearby nests are cardinals and robins.
   See this Sunday's Oakland Press for more information on bird strikes.