Every Bird House is a Memory
Out in my habitat it’s obvious spring is about to occur. Trees are budding, the weather is completely wonky, plants are poking up from the ground and the birds are starting to house hunt in earnest. In pre-nesting preparation, yesterday was bird house cleaning day. I realized that I have an excessive number of a lot of bird houses and each one is special to me, a reminder of who has lived there and the excitement of watching the babies go from eggs to fledglings. After two decades, multiple designs and a good number of bird families, I have this bird house thing down. All of my boxes are plain, practical and blend well with their surroundings – which is where birds actually nest. No fancy painted houses here.
As I cleaned out each box I thought of the memory attached to it, why it was there, and the bird families who occupied it. In my new house these bird boxes have only been up for a maximum of three nesting seasons but they already mean something to me. These are a few of my memories:
I stole this bird house. Really. When I first moved in there was an older woman living next door to me. She was very quiet, I never saw her, just lights at very precise hours. The story is that her husband had Parkinson’s and he became too much for her to handle so he was put in a nursing home. She put her house on the market in order to move closer to him but she passed away the day after she moved. The lady had been a gardener and her yard was very overgrown but I knew that she had loved it. I found this box in the woods, lying on the ground, and it broke my heart. It was on her property but after seeing it for weeks just laying there, I snuck (okay, I “sneaked”) over and grabbed it. It was destroyed and we pretty much had to rebuild it entirely to get it back together. It is a chickadee box and the only one I have with such a small floor at only 4″x4″, but a downy woodpecker nested in it last year and raised a family. That was a treat. This winter the male downy roosted inside.
This is a bluebird box and my “standard” habitat bird house. It’s size is suitable to a wide variety of cavity dwelling songbirds with a 5″x5″ floor. All of my boxes are pole mounted with baffles, not so much for the squirrels as for snakes. We have a lot of rat snakes around here (yay!) but they will climb poles and eat eggs or baby birds.
Another standard habitat box, this one with the entrance guard off. It was removed after watching a male nuthatch bash his beak against it for days until I thought he would break his face. As soon as we removed the metal plate he didn’t want anything to do with it. Go figure. A brown headed nuthatch moved in and raised a family.
A nesting shelf which hasn’t found a permanent home yet. We had it on the side of an outbuilding but it was ignored. I have robins, eastern phoebes and mourning doves which will all nest on shelves but no takers. In fact, the robins nested on the ground in English ivy which just chapped my bottom because I despise the English ivy. It’s a necessary evil right now as it’s a major erosion control plant and it’s going to take a retaining wall to replace it. The doves, thrashers and several other birds nested in leyland cypress. This also chapped my bottom because I want the sterile cypress gone and have planted holly behind it in order to one day take the cypress out. It acts as a privacy screen but I dream of the day it’s dead. Meanwhile, being the only coverage on my property it’s hosted nesting. Uggh. Very insulting to a habitat gardener. Blows the snotty right out of me.
This is a convertible roosting box bird house. Plans for it are here: Convertible Roosting Box Bird House. It’s large enough for screech owls, flickers, flycatchers or woodpeckers but so far has not been occupied except as a winter roost which was fun. I have three of them and the others have been used but not this one. It’s set back a bit further in the woods with hopes of attracting a screech owl. Meanwhile, the squirrels move in, the squirrels move out. Squirrels don’t tend to occupy a box for long which I have heard is due to changing a house frequently helps them to avoid parasites. Knowing that they won’t be there for long has kept me from chasing them out and they actually seem to prefer to use it on rainy days but not as a permanent residence. If they came around during screech owl breeding season, which is February – March in Georgia, I’d give them the boot without thinking twice.
This bird house is a particular favorite of mine. Plans for it are here: Build a Nuthatch Wedge Shaped Bird House Plans. It was only put up last fall on this property with hopes of aging it a bit before spring nesting so has not been used yet, however the design was highly successful for 10 years at my previous residence. It was a home for many nuthatches, white breasted and brown headed. Watching them all fledge was a joy. It’s also just a different, fun shape while still being a practical home for backyard birds.
A Peterson’s classic box. Oh the drama of a Peterson’s. They always cause a stir for prospective bird parents seeking realestate. Last spring was it’s first season and everyone checked it out. Usually the birds prefer a house that’s been up a year and aged but not this one. The chickadees, who nest first, built a nest in it. Bluebirds came along and built a nest on top of the chickadee nest, the chickadees had a fit while the bluebirds ignored them and the titmice screamed all the while that they wanted this house. Screaming titmice is nothing unusual as they scream they wanted that one about any box another bird looks at. The chickadees moved to a wren house, the titmice into a woodpecker box, then the bluebirds said “forget this” and moved into a different Peterson’s box on the property. Alright.
The other day a female red-bellied woodpecker was checking it out. Now it’s a bit small for a large woodpecker but that would be nice.
So go forth, clean out your nest boxes, put more bird houses up, plant more berries and get ready to make more memories this nesting season. Who has already nested in your yard and given you a memory?
Make a Bird Fruit Treat Recipe
Migration Season is in Full Swing
Love this post, and it’s a great reminder for us that after last year’s debacle with our flycatcher nestlings, we need to get our nest boxes up! I’m with you, I prefer the rustic look to my birdhouses, that way they don’t detract from the beauty of the birds themselves.
Curbstone Valley Farm recently posted..Amanita muscaria sp
I am amazed that there are so many versions of bird houses. I can see they are all hand made. How do you know which style suits which bird? Can you recommend a book?
Books:
Complete Book of Birdhouse Construction for Woodworkers – a simple book of plans. I really used this a lot at first.
Birdhouses, Feeders You Can Make
Building Birdhouses and Feeders
Stokes Complete Guide to Attracting Bluebirds – Stokes birdhouse book is also available but the bluebird box in their bluebird guide has been so successful for us that it has become the basic box we use them most.
You’ll get a lot of opinions on size & dimensions, but just be aware that many pre-build boxes are too small. The entrance or floor usually only supports a very limited number of species. All our entrances are no 1 1/2″ for example, while many are only 1 1/4″.
Many thanks Karyl for taking the time to giving me some books to look into. I appreciate it.
patty recently posted..The self drilling seeds of the filaree
I love that you “sneaked” over. Great story and information! I can’t wait to link to your blog from mine.
Debbie Ballentine recently posted..Just Hatched!