If you have a bit of dexterity, you can take a cloth handkerchief, carefully grab the insect by the glass pane and let it go when the window is open – then it will fly away. Photo: dpa
An incessant thumping buzzing comes from the window. Yet another insect has found its way into your home but can’t seem to understand the concept of glass.
Why can’t it go around? What compels it to keep banging itself into the glass until it collapses from exhaustion?
There is a kind of inner programming behind this, says Christian Schmid-Egger, an insect specialist with the German Wildlife Foundation, who told us the best ways to help insects back outside again.
Why do insects always fly up and down the window pane even when the window is wide open?Schmid-Egger: The reason is relatively simple. All flying insects orient themselves towards the light, especially when they are disoriented or when they have to flee from something.
When it comes to a human home, they will fly into a dark room because they suspect there’s food there. Then they are disturbed, and then they fly to the light.
And if there is a window pane in front of the light, they can’t make sense of it. They then just keep flying against this pane because they have an inner programming, so to speak, that tells them: “Go to the light!”
Of course, they then also start to fly up and down. They collapse down after a while when they run out of strength. Then they fly up again – and again and again against the window.
Why does it usually not help the insects if you open the window even more? You often have the feeling that it stresses the animals even more because the window is coming towards them.It’s just that they simply don’t see this exit. Insects have great problems perceiving this pane of glass. Unlike us, they can’t think a rational thought like: “There’s a gap down there, I can fly through that instead.”
If the open gap is exactly in the line where they are trying to fly out, they can. You can see that if you tilt the window and you push the insect with a piece of paper towards the gap - then it sometimes flies out.
If a push like that doesn’t work, how do you get them out in some other insect-friendly way?If you have a bit of dexterity, you can take a cloth handkerchief, carefully grab the insect by the glass pane and let it go when the window is open – then it will fly away.
You just have to be careful not to press too hard. Otherwise the insect will be squashed. This can happen quite easily, especially with flies.
The cloth also prevents you from being stung. Even large wasps can be safely removed with a double-folded cloth handkerchief. Their stingers are no longer than half a millimetre, so they can’t get through.
The second possibility is to take a glass and put it over the animal. Then carefully push a piece of paper – preferably something sturdy like thin cardboard – in between. This way you catch the insect and can release it at the open window. This requires some skill, but I think you can manage it. – dpa/Tom Nebe
