DEAR JOAN >> For the past two weeks, a junco has appeared daily at our family room window near where I sit and pecks at it. He — or she — is persistent and does it frequently each day.

There are also times when I am in our basement, and he appears at the window above my desk. How he knows I’m there is a mystery, because he cannot see me when I go down there. I thought he might be looking for food, but he seems to ignore what I put out.

I thought he might be pecking at his reflection, but by this point you’d think he’d figured out that there’s nothing there. Do you have any idea why he’s doing this?

— Paul J., Saratoga

DEAR PAUL >> I can’t say for certain, but it would appear this dark-eyed junco is stalking you. Perhaps he’s looking to steal your identity and assume your place in society, or at the very least, get a credit card number he can use to buy imported caterpillars from the West Indies.

Or, slightly more likely, he’s a confused bird pecking at his own reflection. Juncos actually have a reputation for this sort of behavior, especially during mating season — which is now.

As to your suggestion that surely after hours and days spent attacking his own reflection, he would learn, he hasn’t. He won’t. Ever. Birds have many talents, but the ability to recognize their own images is something, unlike the uncanny ability to find a freshly washed car to poop on, they have yet to master.

Although I understand the feeling that you’re being spied upon, he actually doesn’t see you at all. The position of the sun on the windows is creating a mirror effect, and the junco sees himself, which he construes as an intruder. Nature requires him to chase away this interloper, and he will spend hours pecking at the reflection.

There’s little chance he will harm himself or the window, but as the battle consumes so much of his time, it would be better to do something to eliminate the reflection and let the junco get on with mating, eating and helping care for a brood.

Sometimes closing the blinds or curtains is all it takes, but you might have to go further, covering the window temporarily with newspapers or other materials. You don’t have to do this forever. The Earth’s rotation will eventually eliminate the reflection, and the birds become slightly less territorial in the fall and winter.

Ambassadors of Compassion

Palo Alto Humane Society is inviting seventh and eighth grade students in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties to become Ambassadors of Compassion by writing a story on the theme of animals and people helping each other.

Stories can be fiction or nonfiction, and should illustrate a sense of kindness in their characters.

Because one good turn deserves another, the winning author will receive $500, and two runners-up will get $200 each. The winning stories will be published by the Palo Alto Humane Society.

Stories must be original and between 800 and 1,000 words. Deadline for submission is midnight on May 31. Competition guidelines and a submission form are available at www.paloaltohumane.org.

Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@bayareanewsgroup.com.