Charles Self - Easy-to-Build Birdhouses

We begin this series of projects by looking at what a birdhouse needs most, from a birds point of view. In general, my aim in this book is to ensure that the birds are happy with your efforts.

Snugness. This one is simple enough. A snug birdhouse has just enough room for the nesting materials, the bird, and the young birds, and not much extra space, but is not so cramped that theres no room for several babies and the parent. Birds have size needs (just as we do), and they react, live, and reproduce better when those size needs are met. Youll find size requirements for most types of desirable nesting birds in this book, and changing a few sizes, sometimes only one, can make a single birdhouse design suitable for a number of birds.

General comfort. Protection from wind, rain, and snowas well as sleet and hailis a desirable feature, with the opening oriented to the direction preferred by the species of bird. Ventilation is an important factor here. Ventilation slots or holes cut well up in the birdhouse help to maintain air movement with the front opening and with floor drain openings.

Slow reaction to temperature changes. Probably better than slow is slower reaction to temperature swings. This means you dont want a roofing material that heats up so fast it cooks the birds or makes them ill from the heat. The same with cold. Birds can stand a reasonable amount of cool, but we dont want them turning gelid on the nest. Use housing materials that retard heat movement in either direction. That doesnt necessarily mean you need to build and insulate a huge birdhouse, but using natural materials such as solid wood is a start. Proper location, out of direct sun and wind, is another salient point.

Dryness. Easy enough. For those birds that insist on enclosed nesting spaces, try to provide corner or other draining in the bottom of the birdhouse for any incidental water entry, and orient the house so openings are not in direct line with driven rain or snow or ice.

Protection from predators. I dont suggest you shoot your neighbors cats, but you want to make it more difficult for cats and snakes to gain entry or even access to the birdhouse. Leave off the exterior perches, for a start. Mount the house on a slick pole, as far up as the desired species will accept. Use predator guardsa cone of light metal wrapped around the pole, wide side downwhere possible. These keep snakes from slithering up the pole.

Suitable distance from the ground to emulate natural nesting spaces. Some birds like 3, 4, 5 or 6 feet while others prefer 20. There is seldom much nest interchange (of course, most of the birds that nest low are smaller, while those that nest high tend to be largerlike all generalities, that one has major holes, I know).

Ease of entry. The house needs to be easy for the bird to get into and out of, while also being difficult for snakes to enter. Its always nice when you can confine entry to one or two bird species. This sometimes works, but it often doesnt. Keep the entry holes as small as possible for the species desired, and rough up the exterior around the hole so the birds claws have something to grip. You might place a small perch inside the entry hole, too.

Appearance. Birds are a bit like auto and truck drivers. Dont startle them and theyre a lot happier. Give them something too shiny, and they tend to flutter off. They may or may not return. Make them a birdhouse that fits into the natural scheme of things, and theyre more likely to check it out and stay. Anyone who has ever seen bluebirds house-hunting knows that this works. Ive seen bluebird pairs build in two newer houses, only to go down the fence line to the most dilapidatedto human eyesderelict chunk of redwood boards around, and set up housekeeping in the near wreck more times than I want to count.

Getting the size right is of importance if youre aiming to attract birds, though most birds are willing to adapt to slightly unsuitably sized nesting areas. The chart on the next page gives some sizes for birds that we generally welcome in yards and around houses.

A cautionary tale: there are many more welcome birds, and there are some cautions about the birds listed in the chart, especially the larger woodpeckers, such as the flicker and the red-headed. Both of these birds, once established, can be amazingly destructive of property and very difficult to discourage. On a personal note, Ive had lots of damage to my woodworking shop created by flickers enlarging openings in the eaves, and on the soffit and fascia, in order to get into the attic area of the shop for nesting purposes. I have yet to find an effective way to seal the area and evict the birds, and the larger holes have brought a plague of squirrels with them. They also damaged one corner of that house badly, forcing replacement of some siding and a couple of corner boards.

There are many more birds that you will find flitting around a yard, including doves and wrens, some sparrows, chickadees, nuthatches, phoebes, bluebirds, swallows, and many of the woodpeckers, including the downy and the hairy. Not all are birds that nest in houses. Some birds are desirable, while others are less so. Starlings are a plague on many feeders and around yards, where they adapt quickly to conditions favorable to almost any small birds, too often ousting the more favored birds.

Birdhouses provide spring care for birds and a nesting site that helps them keep their numbers up.

When you say Cmon to my house to birds, youre making a commitment that helps keep a continuing natural balance on things; gives you enjoyment in constructing wood projects; gives you an excuse to collect tools that are handy for other projects, non-bird related; and also gives you a shot at great enjoyment in watching their numbers increase. Its hard to describe the enjoyment youll get when you note a declining species (which bluebirds were, some twenty years ago), having several batches of chicks each year, teaching them to fly, feed on their own, and generally introducing them to bird life. But it is better than just good.

Birdhouse Sizing

There are a limited number of truly useful birdhouse woods, though you can actually use almost any wood, including a multitude of exotics that has a reasonable chance of surviving more than two seasons out-of-doors. But the expectation that a birdhouse should last only a couple to three years is not a good one, as it may take that long to attract birds to the nesting area. Some woods do well when painted, others do well when left alone. Of the dozen or so suitable woods, pine is probably the cheapest in most areas, but woods such as walnut and white oak give some unusual talking points, as do woods such as mahogany. On a personal basis, I prefer easily worked woods for birdhouses, which tends to mean using sharp tools and softwood, either a pine, cedar, or cypress. Some are better than others at what we need. Pines do not last for an exceptionally long time, though Ive got one pine birdhouse up in Virginia (south central region) that has been in place for over five years. It is unfinished and doing fine. There are also some redwood bluebird houses there that are outlasting the locust fence posts they were originally hung on, nearly sixteen years ago.