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When a territorial male ground hornbill sees his reflection in a window, he is convinced that there is a intruder in his territory. He will go into attack mode and try to kill the intruder with his powerful bill. This often leads to windows being broken and ground hornbills being very unpopular. Simply replacing the window does not always solve the problem as ground hornbills will often return to the same spot to make sure that the intruder has left.
There are however easy ways of stopping window breaking.
1. Replace windows that are being broken with toughened glass. This glass is much thicker and hornbills are usually unable to break it.
2. Cover the windows with wooden shutters. A cheaper option is to make roll up blinds with shade cloth, to roll down when you leave the property.
3. Windows can be replaced with polycarbonate. This is a type of plastic window that is virtually unbreakable and is also used in trains and buses. For more information on polycarbonate windows, you can visit Modek at www.modek.co.za. |
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Raymond Glass shatters prices for ground hornbills!
Raymond Glass in Musina has kindly agreed to offer discount prices for windows broken by Ground Hornbills in the Musina/Alldays area. This is an important gesture and shows the diversity of people and organizations involved in the conservation of the species in the Limpopo Province. Please contact them for a price list and more details. Tel: 015 534 0083. Or visit them at the N1 Business centre, Shop No. 4, National Highway (N1), Musina.
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IMITATION CARACAL FACEKEEPS GROUND HORNBILLS/MONKEYS FROM WINDOW BREAKING! Interestingly Dee made a huge over life size photograph of a caracal face which Nick took to the Limpopo to the house of an elderly couple, without a dog, who were really bothered for years by their ground hornbill group breaking their windows.
The ground hornbills have not come near the house once, and even more interesting is that the monkeys sit on a fence and alarm at it and also do not come to the house. |
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ADVICE ABOUT WINDOW BREAKING FROM ZIMBABWE
Elspeth Parry in Zimbabwe has these comments about window breaking in schools.
I have 33 schools---none have broom poles or sacks to cover the windows when the children are not there, no food is thrown away as half the time there is no food-[ I dont think you can really comprehend the level of deprivation these people are living in]--the birds only come through in the holidays so at the end of term the panes are smeared with ash and water to obliterate reflections and that works aside from the fact that the 3mm float glass that we use for replacement they cant break. |
