Sunday, March 22, 2009

For the birds

Birds are always nesting in weird places at our house, such as inside a folded-up camping/beach chair. We only had one birdhouse, which of course only one family of birds could (and did!) use, so Scott and I decided to build another one. Witness:

We used these plans: http://www.allfreecrafts.com/nature/birdhouse.shtml. We had scrap plywood. We bought non-toxic exterior glue and paint, and the drill bit to make the entry hole. The plans were pretty easy to follow, though Scott had to rig up a right angle clamp:

The house is very sturdy. All of the parts are connected by glue and nails. Scott thumbed through a book at Lowe's about building birdhouses last weekend and it recommended drilling drainage and ventilation holes. I drilled some on both sides:
I hope the birds will love it! Here is a picture of the baby birds we had in the other birdhouse last year:
They were so cute!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

The birds should be very happy now to have another bird house. The babies are so cute! Great picture. We have them get into strange places to nest also like the hose holder and once our fixture came lose on the porch light and hung down and that fast they were there building a nest before my husband got to it.

Susie said...

We had a mockingbird build her nest in one of my hanging Boston ferns last year. She raise 5 tweeties in it.

Ginger said...

Rain Gardener - sometimes they build nests in terribly inconvenient places, but I can't bring myself to disturb them!

Susie - that actually sounds like a pretty great, protected place for a nest! I sure would be surprised if I found one, though!

Heather said...

Ginger, Baby birds are the best! Except starlings, of course. I really enjoy them when we have them here. We had a little nuthacth nest in a knothole in the shop wall 2 years ago and boy was she territorial. Fun to watch though.
-Heather

Ginger said...

Heather,
they are SO fun to watch! Scott says I border on stalking them - LOL!
Hope you had a good weekend!

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

This house is adorable! Looking forward to the post showing the new residents.

Ginger said...

Thanks, Daffodil Planter! We're going to make some more for gifts!

Heather said...

Hi Ginger- shed envy. You are too funny. I saw yours and knew that item had to go to the front of my list of things to do. I also loved that you could start seeds on the shelf below, so I copied you. Hope you don't mind. They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. Or something like that. So please know you were my inspiration. I needed one for sure when I saw yours. Hope all is well!
-Heather

Heather said...

That made me laugh! My husband has seriously been trying to rack up the points around here too. I wonder what the heck he wants when he happily does anything I ask of him. Then installs a door handle when I didn't even notice I needed one. Men are a crack up, even better when they are "whipped" :-D