This owl has had it with the cold
Digital Reporter
Thursday, December 6, 2018, 3:18 PM - It's been cold in Ontario lately.
In fact, October 1 - November 30 was the fifth-coldest ever in Toronto and the coldest since 1980.
It's been so chilly, it seems like even wildlife has had enough.
(WINTER IS HERE: How will El Niño shape Canada's upcoming winter? Find out with The Weather Network’s 2019 Winter Forecast | FORECAST & MAPS HERE)
Check out the video above, sent in by Weather Network viewer Darren Cutler.
What appears to be a great barred owl can be seen in Cutler's backyard in Oshawa, Ontario Wednesday.
The bird flies directly towards the camera, colliding with the window.
Thankfully, it does not appear to have been injured.
Great barred owls tend to be aggressive during mating season, which typically begins in October. So, to be fair, there's a good chance the bird wasn't trying to get inside but was trying to protect its territory.
PREVENT BIRD-WINDOW COLLISIONS
Unfortunately, birds sometimes collide with windows. Here are a few things you can do to lessen the risk, according to a 2016 study from the University of Alberta led by Justine Kummer:
- Move bird feeders closer to windows. If a bird leaves quickly, it will have less time to pick up speed should it collide with a window.
- Close blinds to cut down on reflections.
- Attach bird window decals to large spaces. “The problem with decals is people aren’t putting enough on the window; you essentially have to cover the window," Kummer told Global News. "People don’t want to put big black birds on their window, so people are getting around this by using UV decals that are relatively clear to humans, but for birds it reflects light and they can better see that there is a surface there.”
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