Birds and windows
- Thread starter Regular.Cyclist
- Start date
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- Location
- Inside my skull
Presume windows were not vertically above each other? Patrolling the ground would not reveal which window was hit.
SuperGalactian
Well-Known Member
Good that you think like that. But if you read my post carefully, you’ll appreciate that this was accommodated in the experimental design.
- Location
- Inside my skull
Indeed, but if a bird strikes one window and falls to the ground; there is no guarantee they will fall directly below the window. They make strike one clear pair and yet end up below a silhouetted pair. Plus one has to consider whether it truly was random, were there confounding factors, were the results statistically meaningful, and was any confirmation bias at play?
SuperGalactian
Well-Known Member
The study was published, but it was in Finnish, and I don’t know the reference offhand. I’ve no doubt fault could be found: virtually all experimental studies in wildlife biology are less than ideal because of circumstances. But as I know the building, I can assure you that the risk of birds ending up under the wrong window is implausible. I don’t know why you would suspect confirmation bias without knowing anything about the study? In fact, why are you trying to pick holes at all?
The point of my story was that while many people wonder vaguely whether hawk silhouettes work, one person set to and tried to detect any effect, patiently over several years.
