Finally you say!!!
I know you were wondering if it would ever happen- a website devoted to birdhouses and no birdhouse plans? Well that was yesterday and today I have 3 super duper easy birdhouse plans!!!! Just sign up on the right side of the screen and viola’ all instructions for building and enjoying the fruits of your labor are at your fingertips =)
I am pretty proud of my FREE “ebook” if you will. The birdhouse plans are unaltered and used with permission by the U.S. Geological Survey.
A quick rundown of what you will find included with these nifty birdhouse plans:
*Pages 2-3 include Materials needed to build a nest box, Tips on drainage and ventilation, How-to check the nest box, Tips on placement and preventing predators
*Pages 4-6 include 34 cavity nesting birds and the dimensions of their nest box or nesting platform
*Pages 7-8 includes the birdhouse plan for Black-capped Chickadees, House Wrens and White-breasted Nuthatches. I included a color picture of the birds as well as breeding range, specific nest box instructions(if any) and information on nesting behaviors(incubation, egg description, and fledging)
*Pages 9-10 includes the birdhouse plan for Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds as well as the birds’ specific information.
*Pages 11-12 includes the nesting shelf plan for the American Robin and Barn Swallow as well as the birds’ specific information.
*Pages 13-14 is an extra bonus- the plans for a Johnson Bat House. I included some important information about those plans and specifics about the Big and Little Brown Bat. (After reading up on these guys I should change my slogan to Got Bugs…Build a Bat house- they eat 3,000 to 7,000 bug a night!!!!)
These plans are easy enough you could do them with your kids(5 and older). They can measure, glue, drill and paint!!
I hope you enjoy the plans and the information!!!
Remember… Build a Birdhouse…Save a Bird!!!
I have been researching birdhouse options and have made my decision. To buy or build?
I will share my pros and cons list for both buying and building bird houses =)
To buy pros: *You can pick one out as a family, *No elbow grease necessary, * You can buy it and put it up all in the same day, *As a novice builder it might be easier to pick one out that looks exactly like you want(i.e. a birdhouse that matches your house), *You can buy it online
To buy cons: *Can be expensive, *Can be confusing (so many many many options), *You need to make sure it has drainage, ventilation, no perch etc.
To build pros: *Great family activity, *More affordable, *If you build it they will come =), * You feel satisfied when the work is done, *It is great stress relief, *You have control over whether the birdhouse is safe from the very beginning, *You can get the plans free on this website!!
To build cons: *You might have to buy or borrow some tools, * You will have to find the materials needed (Home Depot can be a big store when all you want is nails and a 4X10), *Elaborate fancy birdhouse plans might be difficult for novice birdhouse builders=)
Well my decision was to……. Build a birdhouse…to save a bird!
Was that really a surprise!! Watch for my birdhouse building video!! It should be uploaded within the next 2 weeks.
Here are some things to think about when you are getting ready to feed the birds. An FYI: most of my information came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Selecting a bird feeder:
Do you want to buy a feeder or make one- this can be as simple as throwing bread crumbs out
on your back patio to actually busting out the circular saw and making one that can hang from your maple tree to laying out some cash for the super duper squirrel zapping feeder =) Just kidding about the zapping part. It is better to use a feeder since food left on the ground is subject to mold and bacteria and other unseen things.
When you are picking a feeder its best to consider placement 1st. Where can you watch the birds easiest? Where would you most likely refill the feeder? Where are you ok with a mess? Is the area mostly squirrel proof?
Now that you know where you will put the feeder the next step is buying or making.
**Ask these questions before getting your bird feeder: Is it durable? Will it keep seeds dry? Is it easy to clean(my most important qualifier)? How much food will it hold(meaning how long before I have to get off my butt to refill it)? How many birds can it hold? And is species specific?
Durability: You can buy “disposable” plastic bag feeders; feeders made of cloth, nylon, vinyl and metal netting; clear, lexan, colored and PVC plastic tubes; ceramic and terra cotta; redwood, western cedar, birch, pine and plywood; sheet metal and aluminized steel; glass tubes and bottles. There seems to be no end to the type of materials used to make feeders. Pick one you like and that is safe for the birds!!
Keeping seeds dry: water gets into almost all feeders. Remember seed will spoil so check your feeder after rainstorms. You can improve the likelyhood of keeping your seed dry by adding a plastic dome to your feeder(which can also help deter those pesky squirrels). Also look for feeders that have drainage holes.
Cleaning the feeder: Remember with a bird feeder come birds that leave behind feathers and droppings!! A thistle feeder for goldfinches should be cleaned about once a month. Hummingbirds feeders requires cleaning two or three times a week. Sunflower and suet feeders may need to be cleaned only once a month. Use hot soapy water and let it sit if its plastic, ceramic or glass. Wood feeders need to be cleaned too. Otherwise use your eyes, if you wouldn’t give it to your pet bird it’s probably time to clean it out. I like easy!!
Food capacity: This is important to me(I can be somewhat lazy in the refill arena). The bigger the better exceptbeware that large volume feeders can lead to a waste of seed if it rains alot.
Number of birds & species: This is in your control. You can put out small amounts of seed, put out specialized seed or use restrictive feeders. If you use more than one type of seed, put them in separate feeders. Most birds prefer black oil sunflower. If you want to feed only cardinals, doves and white-throated sparrows, switch to safflower. If you want only finches, doves and white-throated sparrows, try niger thistle. If you want only jays, titmice and white-throated sparrows, try peanuts. The most non-selective feeders are the tray, platform or house feeders. Tube feeders with wire mesh are good for small birds. Remove the perches and only birds that can cling will feed.
So now that you are armed with the basics of choosing a bird feeder now we can temporarily change my slogan to Build a bird feeder… Save a bird =)
The California quail is a prized game bird and it is found along the coastal western U.S. It is also called the Valley Quail.
This quail lives in a flock of 20-100 birds (called a covey) until mating season when they pair off. Like most quail species they spend time on the ground but easily scare into flight.
It is short and plump. The male has a gray chest with a brown back and wings. Its black throat has white stripes and it has a brown cap on its head. A white stripe crosses its eyes and forehead and it has comma shaped crown feathers that are larger than the females’. The female has a grayish brown head and back with a speckled chest.
These birds prefer grasslands with lots of brush. They mostly eat seeds with an occasional insect or plant bud. They feed in flocks.
The quail pair are monogomous and can raise 1-2 broods a season. The female lays 1-28 eggs in a hollow on the ground. The eggs are incubated for 3 weeks, both parents sharing this duty. After the eggs hatch the chicks leave the nest immediately. They try flying after they are 10 days old. Once they can fly they roost in the trees with the flock.
The California quail became the state bird in 1931.
Here is a printable color sheet .
Staring up at my empty birdhouse I listened to the bluejay and cardinal calls and wondered who the super smart people were that figured how to sound out a bird call in English. I mean did people submit their phoenemic guess and then everyone vote for the best. Do you really think the American Robin says “cherrio.” I think the person that came up with that call was hungry or possibly even staring at their child eating cherrios. Couldn’t it have been any number of things “cheers”, ”sherry”,or “charlie”? Are these people only experts found in Departments of Ornithology or just well-known field guide authors?
It seems that even here in my humble home that there are bird song decipherers waiting to be released. Looking back at my early birding days I know from experience you usually hear a bird before you see a bird. I have successfully learned most of the suburbian bird calls- Bluejay, Cardinal, Sparrow, Grackle, Ravens, and Chickadees. And it seems that this is a great track to be on- learn the common before the exotic. Go me! I loved this article on how to increase your bird call vocabulary.
So it’s not just me that wants to know what that bird is saying. Our 3 year old is a sponge in the knowledge department. We just found this site you can play a bird sound game and then look up the answer. Today she and I played with Bird Songs from Around the World
Aren’t birds awesome! If you haven’t done it already Build a birdhouse…Save a bird =)
I just read an interesting article in the National Geographic News by Robert Winkler. It spouts some interesting facts about where we are spending some of our money.
In a 2001 survey, 1/3 of Americans 16 years and older(that’s 66 million people) fed and photographed wildlife and spent 40 million dollars doing it!!!
Over the past 5 years wildlife watchers (aka birders) grew by 5% and spending on binoculars and birdhouses(ha I knew it) went up by 33%.
Vermont had the highest wildlife participation rate at 60%, Minnesota was 2nd at 54% and Alaska and Wisconsin tied for 3rd place with 53%
Among the 60+ million people who enjoy watching wildlife around their homes, bird feeding was the most popular activity. Americans spent $2.6 billion dollars on bird food and $730 million dollars on birdhouses, feeders and baths. WOW!
So why do we like birds so much? Paul Green the executive director of the American Birding Association says “birds are by far the easiest wild animals to find and watch. They’re also the most appealing, with colors and behavior that make them aesthetically pleasing and fascinating.”
This survey is conducted every 5 years by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was based on telephone interviews given by the Census Bureau. I can’t wait for the newest stats! If you don’t want to build a birdhouse you can buy one =) Happy Birding!
This is a synopsis of a story I read about in the October 2007 issue of Guideposts, Where Bluebirds Sing Again, written by Frank Newell from Warrenton, North Carolina.
For many years he and his wife enjoyed watching the bluebirds return to their farm to nest in mid-February, usually in the wood posts of their fence. Over the years as Frank returned home for vacation from the military he noticed les
s and less bluebird songs. Where bluebirds used to be out collecting bugs for their new chicks, now there was clear cutting of the forests and more famers using metal fence posts instead of wood.
Starting to feel empty with retirement around the corner and no more of the bluebirds ”velvet soft warbling” he headed to his workshop. For the next week he put together bluebird house after house. Before he returned to work almost every birdhouse had a bluebird couple nesting. It was from that point on that Frank spent every vacation moment building bluebird houses. Other people also began to get involved.
One day they put together several different models to let the bluebirds examine. The differences were subtle- a smaller entrance hole or a different baffle tacked around it-the bluebirds could tell the difference and they picked the same house every time. He still builds slightly different models every once in a while to see if the birds tastes change.
His birdhouses started going up all over Warrenton and requests came in from all over North Carolina. In 1998, two years after he officially retired he set up a birdhouse factory outside Warrenton. Today he has shipped over 75,000 houses to almost every state in the country and he now works as a wildlife rehabilitator.
Awesome!! Build a birdhouse, save a bird!!!
Nest-box cameras- This is something that totally fascinates me!! I want to own one now!!!
The cameras fit inside a birdhouse and give you a fantastic view of its inhabitants. They use infrared optics and usually brodcast in black and white so that the birds can live in darkness.
These cameras then can be hooked up to your TV, VCR, or computer and you can record the nesting activity to watch later or you can watch it live. Cornell University has several nest box cams and they are so much fun to watch.
You can also set up a camera in front of your bird feeder or bird bath and get some great pictures. This is a great activity if you are a birder or if you have kids and you want them to learn about bird behavior.
Here is a link to a bluebird nest box camera from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The cactus wren spends its time in the desert living in the spiny saguaro and cholla cacti. The male and female
look alike; their backs are brown with white spots and their wings have white bars and their tail has black bars. It is the largest wren in North America.
They are skittish and noisy often “yelling” at those who dare to come near. They eat insects, seeds and fruits. The male often builds several nests and then the female picks her favorite. The female lays 3-6 eggs and incubates them about 16 days. The young leave the next after about 3 weeks. Between March and July they will raise 2-3 families. The cactus wren was made Arizona’s state bird in 1931.
Enjoy the printable color sheet.
Miscellaneous birdhouse thoughts: If someone was brave enough to stick their hand into the cactus and nail up a birdhouse do you think the wrens might nest there? If I had easy access to a desert I would try it out. If someone is brave enough to try please let me know if it works =)
I must preface this story with a reason for my title. Hopefully you can tell by my blog that I am pro birds and pro birdhouses!! Hopefully what I am about to ask/say next will not send you into a bout of heart palpitations. Is a bird’s life ever more valuable than a human? Well most of you would probably say a human’s life is more valuable but can we ever overprotect? I am not an ethicist or a philosopher just a regular person who like birds and loves people!!!
Here is a story from my sister who is in New Zealand right now. I have copy and pasted exactly what she wrote to me in our last correspondance.”When I went ice climbing in Franz Josef there was an alpine parrot, Kea, that nearly killed us. They are really intelligent, mean, but still they are protected. I watched as one of these birds ripped open a guides backpack with his razor sharp beak. There were three of them that tried to get to our guides pack while we were climbing. It was a really nerve racking situation when the birds were trying to get to the ropes that secure you from falling. So we tried to chunck ice balls at them so we could escape this fate….Needless to say we were victorious. No keas were harmed in the process.”I think the ice balls idea was great and one I know PETA would support =) I just have to say for the record if the ice balls had not detered them could I have been arrested if I chose to blow one up with something a little stronger. What if it had attacked my children(who hopefully as a wise mother I hadn’t taken to the top of a cliff =)) would the law make an exception for the valuableness of a humen life.
Here are some Kea facts: As the world’s only Alpine parrot, it is known as the “feathered wolf” because it has killed sheep and other small farm animals. The keas were then killed for many years by hunters hired by local farmers who were tired of their livestock perishing at the cunning of a kea-this is why they are now protected. Kea’s are super smart and get bored very easily, hence their “weird” behavior of stealing parts off of cars or ripping open backpacks.(Someone should teach the keas to knit or something). Males and females are green with some red feathers around their neck. They nest on the ground usually with 2-4 eggs per season. After 29 days the babies hatch and the males help feed them after they are a month old. Besides farm animals Keas also eat normal bird food like leaves, insects and bugs =) Because the Keas live in such a harsh climate they need the extra fat that the animal remains provide. (Its one thing to picture bird-of-prey eating a typical fleshy meal but another to picture a cute green parrot ripping open a lamb-hmmm)
So despite the propensity for destruction people swear that they are a fun loving bird. I don’t think I will be bringing one into my home anytime soon!!
