We have a small window on the side our house that is next to our
bedroom window. The past 2 months, one (or more) birds keep diving into
this window with their beaks, apparantly thinking they can get through
it. They do this every couple minutes, creating quite a noisy
annoyance in the morning hours.

How can I stop the birds from this behavior? I tried taping some
newspaper over the window on the top, but now they hit the bottom of
window. I would prefer a permanent solution that does not require me
to put up an barrier of any kind.

Thanks in advance!

Hello checkmater and thank you for your question.

Your problem is fairly common, and taping paper on the window can be a
solution.  However a copy of your local newspaper just isnīt going to
work properly (no matter how boring the stories are!)

What you need is to scare the bird from coming anywhere near your
window:

"Ok, so how can we prevent our birds colliding with our home windows?"
"Merlin silhouettes have been used with success. It seems a songbirds
natural instinct is strong enough even to avoid this predator's
likeness."

"When displayed on the outside of the window, the silhouettes presence
as a market for the window helps to redirect potential collisions."
http://birding.bc.ca/articles/birds-windows.htm

and you can get the silhouette here:
http://birding.bc.ca/articles/images/merlin.gif

"Better yet, use the printout as a template from which to cut
silhouettes from black plastic trash bags. These won't melt in the
rain as paper printouts will"
http://www.acorn-online.com/bird314.htm

also see:
"Birds Hitting Windows"
http://www.enature.com/feature/feature_birding.asp?storyID=399

and.....
"HOW TO MAKE WINDOWS SAFE FOR BIRDS"
http://www.flap.org/new/prevent.htm

Thank you for your question, and if you need any clarification of my
answer do not hesitate to ask.

Best regards and good luck!

THX1138
Search strategy included:
birds hitting windows silhouettes  
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&as_qdr=all&q=+birds+hitting+windows+silhouettes++&btnG=Google+Search

I understand that bread soaked in bicarbonate of soda will cause a bird to explode.

I've never tried it ...

Raisons soaked in cyanide might do the trick

Now there's a thought!