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!!!
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!!!
This past weekend I went to Eustace, Texas and stayed with my mom at a friend’s lakehouse. It was absolutely beautiful and completly peaceful. I wanted to do only one thing- REST. So for 2 days we watched movies, slept, and my mom and I spent a great amount of time looking through these awesome Nikon Binoculars Action EX Extreme 10×50.
Both of us could use them soooo well. I’m 5′6” and my mom is barely 5′ so that’s saying alot =) The eye distance was easy to set and the diopter was already in focus. They were super comfortable in my hands and could be held for relatively long period of time. The birds we saw were all bright images and the focus was easy to adjust. I looked through them so often I think at the end of the day I looked a bit like a racoon =) We had fun birding without kids running around scaring them away =)
These are the birds we spied with our little eyes(and binoculars =)): Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Mallard Ducks, Cooper’s Hawk, Forster’s Tern, Killdeer, Turkey Vulture, lots of Bluejays and Ravens, Black-capped Chickadees, Eastern Bluebirds, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Double Crested Cormorants and last but not least on our way home without the aid of binoculars lots and lots of Cattle Egrets. We used the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition 
Did you know there is a ‘most wanted’ list for birdhouses. Can you imagine such a thing? Cornell University has a great ornithology department. Their website “The Birdhouse Network” mentions the usual birdhouse occupants: Eastern Bluebirds, Western Bluebirds and Mountain Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, House Wrens and House Sparrows but they are eager to learn more about the other “cavity-nesting” birds that don’t show up on their usual “Top 10″ lists. So they have given the public an assignment. One I am sure avid bird watchers will take quite seriously. Please if you want to help Cornell in their research department they are eager for you to set up bird houses a.k.a. nesting cavities for the following birds: Mountain Chickadee, Purple Martin, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Screech Owl, Great Crested Flycatcher, Bewick’s Wren and many more. Check out http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/outreach/most_wanted and see the birds and what kind of cozy home you can build for them!!
Build a birdhouse…Save a bird!
