3. Move attractants (such as feeders, baths, etc) away from windows to avoid strikes or place very close to windows (one foot or less) so that the birds can't build up enough speed when leaving the attractants suddenly.

4. Use windows with frosted or with low reflection, tinted glass or install glass at an angle so that it reflects the ground.

Deb's article can be found on page 7 of Vol.5, No. 1, 1998 of Aloft, The Journal of Hawks Aloft Inc.

If anyone has an ingenious solution or product that will help solve this problem, please contact us at bcokenm@aol.com or 256-9130, and we will get the word out.

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New Bird Species Discovered

Robert S. Ridgely was in the Ecuadorian mountains recording bird songs last November when he and a fellow ornithologist heard a strange call. The odd call lead them to a large bird with unusual white facial markings, which he knew right away was "one of the most distinctive new birds to be found in a while."

What Robert Ridgely, 52, and the young Ecuadorian expert, Lelis Navarrete, heard and eventually saw high in the Andes Mountains was the discovery of a lifetime-a new bird species. To put this in perspective it is important to realize that only about one new bird species is discovered every year.

The newly discovered bird has been identified as a member of the Antpitta species. Antpittas are very reclusive, long-legged, non-migratory birds that hop on the forest floor, feeding on large insects. At 10 inches, including its short tail, this new bird is the second-largest known Antpitta. Its most striking feature is a broad white facial stripe that arches below the eye, contrasting with a black crown.

In January, a team of ornithologists netted and photographed four of these birds which were then sacrificed for scientific study.

Ridgely and other ornithologists have set up a foundation to raise money to buy land to protect the bird's habitat, much of which has been cleared for cattle grazing.

"It underscores the importance of the Andean mountaintops as refuges of very rare, isolated, biodiversity that is being discovered," John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y said. "If a big bird is out there being discovered, imagine how many bugs and plants are out there."

This column is a summary of an article reported by the Associated Press.

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