frustrated at my neighbour for causing night frights

Our neighbour across the street usually comes home in the wee hours of the morning.

he backs his truck into the driveway which results in his headlights shining right onto our patio door in our bedroom which is sent my birds into a panic state.

Last night was the worst of all,all 15 birds just went freaky, poor Halo shot right out of his snuggy hut, and went head first into the cage bars and just dropped like a stone.....but he is fine, he was really freaked out last night.

all my cockatiels were just going bizerk , and took quite a few minutes to calm them all down.... I really felt bad for them.

it was like a ricochet effect, for the first time I was actually afraid for my birds.
my baby cockatiels experienced their first night fright, One of them got their wing caught in the bar, so I had to gently remove it. I sat on the floor patting her and calming her down.

It's frustrating to have this happen when you think you have everything covered, cages, safety, and then this happens.

We have a street lamp that lights up our bedroom somewhat, so I don't need a night light.

Last night was a full moon as well, so it was a tad bit brighter than usual.

I guess what I'll do is place a blanket over the back of the cages to prevent any flickering light coming in thru our curtains again. normally I just cover the front of the cages, not the backs, but I'll be changing that as of tonight.

I just wish he shut off his darn lights

I hate neighbors like that. Sorry your dealing with that. But if I was you I would take a heavy blanket and just cover the window that the light is coming in. That way to dont have to cover every cage with an extra cover. I have to do this for my husband because he works strange hours and he needs it to be very dark to sleep in our room. I use a dark heavy blanket and it really helps! Hope that was helpful to you.

My neighbour is very nice, and I know he has no clue what issues he is causing with my birds....heck I doubt he knows I have any!
when I get a chance, I'll have a chat with him, and see if he can remember to turn his lights off while backing in.

@ crayZbirdlady...all my large flight are up against the patio door, impossible to move, my other alternative is to cover that back of the cages, I have large blankets that can go across most of them.

Beth, it's possible to buy 100% blockout fabric from most curtain makers or fabric shops that sell curtain-making supplies. You could either make a curtain or holland blind for the window and that would be the end of your problems. If I lived closer, of course, I'd make one for you!

You can also purchase black out curtains. They work fantastically well. I have them in my den, because my neighbors do the same thing, and have massive bonfires as well.

It sounds like your neighbour is not purposely doing it so a chat may be all that's needed to solve the problem.

Poor birdies though!! My Jackie will sleep through the apocolypse I'm sure but Percy is prone to night frights and gets startled very easily. Knowing how distraught we both are when he's had an episode, I can't imagine the drama you had to endure with several birds all terrified!

I was just reminded of New Year's Eve when the fireworks went off. We were prepared for the dog and cats being frightened and had shut them indoors. I hadn't even thought about the poor birds outside! Barney and Madge were OK once I had covered them in a thick blanket and the Lovies likewise. But poor old Dommie nearly died of fright! He shrieked for fully half-an-hour with his feathers flat to his body and his hat raised so high it looked as though it was about to fly off his head! The only one who could comfort him was my husband, who held him under his shirt for the duration.

And no, it's not much fun watching a bird go through that kind of fear. I hope the neighbour just turns his lights off for you, Beth. If he's a nice man, he surely will.

You need lights to park the car so it's not likely he's going to turn them off. I'd invest in the black out curtains.

We have a similar issue here. Our bedroom is in the front of the house. The neighbor goes to work at a very early hour. He drives a muscle car, so we get the loud engine and lights. I know he's not doing it to be irritating and he has to get to work, so we deal with it.

The other issue is most cars nowadays have automatic lights. They turn on when it's dark and they turn off when the engine is off, so it's probably not realistic to expect him to turn them off, though I sympathize with it being a major pain for everyone.

Betrisher said:

Beth, it's possible to buy 100% blockout fabric from most curtain makers or fabric shops that sell curtain-making supplies. You could either make a curtain or holland blind for the window and that would be the end of your problems. If I lived closer, of course, I'd make one for you!

Click to expand...

just a few months ago, I bought brand new curtains, I was ecstatic I got them for 60% off, and fit in perfectly into the decor

I love your idea though, I do sew and have made many curtains and comforters.

the curtains I have are not totally dark, but not see thru either, sort of in the middle that is why I chose them. remember I use to have those cruddy blue blinds that were chewed to bits from Ninja?....gosh was I glad to see those go!
but-they were very effective with reducing light in.

he has an older truck, his daytime running lights are on but he usually turns his lights on as well.
he has a front porch light on and can see just fine when backing in, which is my beef about this.

anyways, I know he's not intentionally doing this, he is really very nice, he'll probably get a chuckle over this.

I am so glad that all your birds were okay! What a horrible thing for you to deal with at that time of night

Well, if you haven't spoken to him, there's no way he'd know that you're bothered about it! But I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to turn his lights off (though, it is of course worth having a chat with him and see what he says!) - best solution would be blackout curtains, though covering the cages might work as well
If they get frightened by this, they'd probably get frightened by cars driving by as well? If they are, curtains or covering would solve that issue too

no they are not afraid of cars, we are well off the road.
I'm am going to just cover the cages, there is no point in buying new curtains when these are perfectly fine.

I have plenty of huge blankets that will fit over nicely.

A lamp light in front of the window or patio door would solve all the problem with any incoming headlights and such. I leave one on nightly before I go to bed.