Bird-Friendly Nest Boxes & Feeders E-Book

Paul Meisel

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Seitenzahl: 107

Beschreibung

Plans to build 12 functional birdhouse and feeder projects, plus valuable insights on creating the perfect backyard environment to attract birds.

Das E-Book Bird-Friendly Nest Boxes & Feeders wird angeboten von Fox Chapel Publishing und wurde mit folgenden Begriffen kategorisiert:
garden birds, feeding garden birds, natural bird environment

Leseprobe

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to Roger Strand for his work helping to restore wood duck populations and to Andrew Troyer for his work helping to restore purple martin and bluebird populations.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Boyd Emerson, Kim Truax, and Johanna Rich for help building, designing, and photographing the projects. Thanks to Lorrie Ham for help proofing the manuscript. Thanks to Andrew Troyer for allowing me to incorporate his bluebird house design. Thanks to Diane Oberlander and John Nisley for providing photographs for the Bluebird House project. Thanks to Dr. Joseph Valks for use of the photograph of the starling. Thanks to Roger Strand of the Wood Duck Society for providing photographs for the Wood Duck House and for sharing his expertise in mounting wood duck houses according to his Best Practices method. Thanks to Jeff Ratcliff for use of the photograph of the sparrow.

Learn to make birdhouses and feeders that…

…are designed to aid in the recovery of endangered or threatened bird species.

…allow for easy inspection and cleaning.

…discourage unwelcome visitors like squirrels, sparrows, and starlings.

…invite wonderful bird species into your backyard.

Contents

Introduction

Getting Started

Birdhouses:

Bluebird House

Wood Duck House

Window View Birdhouse

Chickadee Birdhouse and Roost

Small Raptor Nest Box

Martin House

Bird Feeders:

Traditional Suet Feeder

Underside Suet Feeder

Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder

Oriole Wishing Well Feeder

Traditional Bird Feeder

Scallop-Roof Bird Feeder

About the Author

Appendix A: Full-Size Plans

Appendix B: Additional Resources

Appendix C: Nest Box Dimensions

Appendix D: Feeding Preferences

Index

Introduction

No matter where you live, placing birdhouses and feeders outside your home will give you a front-row seat to a fun and nature-oriented pastime: watching the antics of wild birds. Watching birds attend to their newborns and witnessing the first awkward flights as a new generation learns how to fly is most rewarding. It’s also a great way to promote the survival of wild bird populations.

Different birds prefer different feeders and styles of nestboxes. The projects in this book are designed to give you lots of options, and none of them require specialized tools. If you know basic construction techniques (covered on pages 16–19) and have access to a basic home workshop with a table saw, scroll saw, drill press, and common hand tools, you can make these projects. A router and a drum sander (or a drum sander attachment for a drill press) are helpful but not necessary. The building materials—exterior plywood or pine or cedar boards—are readily available from home centers or lumberyards.

Getting the Tenants You Want

About 30 different species of birds are known to nest in birdhouses. Most will be welcome visitors to your yard, but a few are not as desirable. Among those few are the starling and the house sparrow, found in all forty-eight continental states, and the song sparrow, found in the northern half of the United States.

Both sparrows and starlings will build nests almost anywhere, showing little preference as to cavity size, height, or location—over doors or windows, on ledges, or in tree cavities. Sparrows stuff all manner of nest-building material through the entrance opening, almost always leaving some unsightly pieces of string, grass, or other debris hanging from a birdhouse’s entrance hole.

Sparrows steal food from other species, including native American songbirds. On the bright side, sparrows do have a cheerful chirp and, like other birds, eat many harmful insects. Starlings are also aggressive, traveling in large flocks that may literally take over an area’s food and shelter. Like bullies, they drive out other species of birds or, worse yet, kill them with their sharp bills.

Although they will build nests just about anywhere, in birdhouses sparrows and starlings prefer a 1 ½" (38mm)-diameter hole. You can try to deter them by making your birdhouse’s hole smaller than that, but that may also discourage other bird species. Starlings typically don’t enter birdhouses with entrances less than 1 ½" (38mm) in diameter, but sparrows will try to use any birdhouse except one with a tiny hole just big enough for wrens.

The aggressive starling, introduced from England, is considered a menace to domestic United States birds.

The common house sparrow, introduced from England, now competes with North American song birds for available food and housing.

MODIFYING PLANS

One of the joys of making projects from wood is that, with a little ingenuity, you can sometimes modify a project slightly to accommodate a particular species of bird. Appendix C (page 106) lists dimensions likely to attract a variety of bird species. By enlarging or reducing the size of the birdhouse or the entrance hole diameter, you can modify some of the birdhouses in this book to more closely match the preferences of various birds.

For example, house wrens, brown-throated wrens, and Bewick’s wrens nest in houses with a 1" (25mm)-diameter hole. Chickadees nest in houses with a 1 ⅛" (29mm)-diameter hole. Birds that prefer a 1 ¼" (32mm)-diameter hole include the nuthatch, downy woodpecker, and titmouse. Some birds, including tree swallows and warblers, prefer a 1 ½" (38mm)-diameter hole, as do sparrows and starlings.

Remember that for thousands of years, birds have successfully searched out nesting locations in the wild. Cavities left by woodpeckers or holes in rotted tree branches are among the choices available. Seldom do these natural cavities match precisely the cavity size and entrance hole diameter listed in Appendix C. However, the suggested dimensions are valuable because experimentation has shown that wild birds are more likely to nest in man-made houses matching the given dimensions. That said, you will never know which species might decide to move in. Part of the joy of providing bird feeders and birdhouses is waiting to see which birds select your yard as a feeding ground or as a building location for their nests and place to raise their young.

Picking the Right Feeder

There are three main varieties of bird feeders: Ground feeders, hanging feeders, and post-mounted feeders.

Ground feeders may be just a piece of wood raised a few feet off the ground with seeds thrown on top of it. I have not included any of these, because they tend to attract birds that eat seed from the ground, including many less desirable species such as sparrows, grackles, and starlings, as well as mice and other rodents. Additionally, the seeds in ground feeders are susceptible to rot and mold when it rains.

Hanging feeders are typically suspended from a tree branch or an overhead support. Although most of the feeders in this book can be hung, it is not necessarily the best mounting method. Wind tends to make hanging feeders swing, which can be quite unsettling to some bird species. Birds such as nuthatches, chickadees, and finches, however, will have no trouble feeding from a hanging feeder.

Attaching your feeder or birdhouse to a stationary post is the preferred mounting method for several reasons. You can place the post anywhere, it eliminates wind swinging, and you can adjust the height so it is within your reach, which simplifies refilling. The post also provides a place to attach a squirrel baffle, and is especially suited to supporting heavy feeders. Steel pipe, sometimes sold as water or gas pipe, is not expensive and is available in most hardware stores. A floor flange can be threaded on the end of the pipe to make an easy attachment point for the feeder. To remove the feeder for cleaning, simply unscrew the floor flange from the post.

A ½" (13mm) pipe with a floor flange holds smaller birdhouses and bird feeders. Use ¾" (19mm) pipe for larger projects. Remember pipe is measured on the inside diameter.

Getting Started

Now that you know more about birdhouses and feeders, it’s time to introduce you to some of the tools and methods you’ll need to complete the projects in this book. Read on to learn how you can reduce the effects of the environment on your finished projects and review the sample project to get a handle on the woodworking methods you’ll need to know.

Understanding the Projects

Each project is composed of the same elements. For every project you will find:

1. A photograph and description of the project

2. How-To Instructions;

3. Final Assembly instructions and exploded Assembly Drawings;

4. A Bill of Materials listing the size of all wood materials as well as any hardware required; and

5. Finishing suggestions.

Each element helps you gain an understanding of the project you wish to undertake, so you can easily and quickly finish it and begin enjoying your feathered friends.

COLOR PHOTOGRAPH AND DESCRIPTION

The color picture introducing each project gives you a good idea of what the finished product will look like, especially if you use the same type of wood and the same stain or paint colors suggested. Read over the description to learn background information about the project. This can help you decide which project to make first, or which one is right for your yard.

TIP: The various tips presented throughout this book provide some valuable information on how to attract birds to your yard, which seeds attract which species, how to store birdseed safely, and which birdhouse sizes are appropriate for certain birds. There are even suggestions for painting and finishing your projects. Take time to page through the book and see what you can learn.

HOW-TO INSTRUCTIONS

The How-To Instructions describe how to proceed with the cutting of each piece of wood needed to build the project. For scroll-shaped pieces that would typically be cut on a scroll saw or band saw, mark the pattern on the wood, then saw out the part. Large plan sheets that include full-size plans are available and can be purchased separately for each project in this book. See the ordering information in Appendix A (page 104).

For square- or rectangular-shaped parts best cut on a table saw, the How-To Instructions say, “Lay out and cut to size.” Do this by setting your table saw to rip the board to width or crosscut it to length. Where angles are required or where holes need to be drilled, use layout tools to mark these locations on your wood.

If two or more identical pieces are required, it will be noted in the How-To Instructions (i.e., two pieces required).

FINAL ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS AND EXPLODED DRAWINGS

Once you have cut each piece to size, it is time to assemble the parts. The Final Assembly instructions, together with the exploded assembly drawings, describe how the pieces of the project fit together and the order in which to assemble them. Refer to both when assembling the project.

Although the assembly sequence is explained, the choice of fasteners is left, for the most part, to the preferences of the builder. For general construction, either nails or screws can be used. On critical joints where screws should be used for strength, the screw-hole locations are shown on the plan drawings and the recommended screw size are given in the Bill of Materials. Be sure to use water-resistant glue for all glue joints. Use nails or screws designed for exterior use.

Remember that birdhouses and feeders must be periodically cleaned. Birdhouses typically feature a removable top, bottom, or side for this purpose. For feeders with an enclosed hopper, the top or top section is made to be removable. For this reason, screws (no glue) are used to facilitate partially disassembling most of the projects in this book.

For birdhouses with an inset bottom that must be removed for cleaning, remember to cut the bottom slightly undersized so it won’t fit too tightly.

Although not included on the drawings themselves, ventilation holes should be drilled at the top of every birdhouse. Birdhouses stationed in hotter climates require larger vent holes than those in cooler climates. Although not shown on the plans, the top of the left and right sides of some birdhouses can be shortened by ¼" (6mm) to allow increased side-to-side ventilation.

Drainage holes should be drilled in the floors of all birdhouses. Drill four or more drainage holes through the floor using a ¼" (6mm)-diameter or larger bit. Another method is to nib the corners of the floor at 45 degrees.

BILL OF MATERIALS

A Bill of Materials list is provided for each plan and contains a great deal of information. The first column indicates the number of pieces required, the second column provides a description, and the last column shows the size. Wood parts are listed by thickness, width, and length, with the smallest piece at the top of the Bill of Materials.