[thudpucker]

Aint this a pretty nest site?
My wife cleaned the Honey suckle from the front with the Weed eater.
Hoping we'd be able to get some birds in the nest this year.


We have Six nest boxes up and normally get some really racous fighting between the Wrens and the BlueBirds.
Not much last year, so we are hoping for more this year.
Anybody else do things to attract the BlueBirds?

 

[greenmule]

Blue birds and mocking birds are two of my most favorite birds.

 

[HydroHarold]

Yesterday I had the "rainy day in the house crazies" so I knocked this together in about an hour. I couldn't have made Wifey happier if I had sent her flowers! We like house wrens (we call them all "Louie") which we've had houses for them at all our homes over the years. The ice storm crushed the last one and she's been listening tor our "Louie" to return.

Not too sure I didn't make the opening a little too big. I may have to make an "overlay" door if I notice any cowbirds or starlings around it. Hung it in the lilac tree this year right outside my "office" window. "Come on Louie!!!"

(After checking out a couple birding sites, I broke off the perch. Keeps preditors off better and is not needed by tiny birds like wrens.)

 

[Rodney in VA]

Hydro

Cool house! That ought to do it! We had a wren's nest in small wall mailbox near the front door of the apartment I built on to the house. This past saturday we were working on the deck and were able to witness all 5 babies come out and take flight for the first time. All I can say is COOL! That is the first time I have ever seen anything like that except on T.V. My wife and I love our birds.

thudpucker

We have a bluebird house but the squirrels ate the opening up really wide this year. We have only had one family ever stay around here. I hear that my area is on the fringe of their territory and we just don't see them. We were just talking about putting up a new box this past week. They are really neat. We love our humming birds. :fing32:

 

[SonnyT]

The house wren we get just came back last Friday.:trink40:

 

[thudpucker]

Yeah, Dump the Peg!
Squirrles will do thier best to chew their way into the house.

Make a Tin Washer with about 1-1/8" Hole and tack it to the bird house at the entrance. The birds wont notice and the squirrls will just go nuts trying to get in there from any part of the house.
I drill 1/4" hole in the backside of the house, near the top for venting.

IF your real crafty, you can make the front drop down for cleaning.

Bat houses are what you want. Those guys will eat a lot of bugs.
But you need water for Bats. No pond or lake, no bats!

 

[junkie]

hi there, just want to say i built a wren house last year,nailed it against the trelis on the back deck. we did get the wren , from our understanding the male builds the nest its fun to watch from our kithen window, talk about a workaholic. then he starts his cackling to attract the female, he never stop, sun up to sun down he did manage to get a date she began to remove most of the junk he stuck into the box , then she took off. never came back. weird dont you think.then my wife had to say , reminds me of you and all your junk in the shed. go figure.

 

[thudpucker]

I like watching them.
I was lucky enough to see the little ones all leave the nest one day.
The whole works, mama and the babies all jumped out, some crashed but got up and went off with the rest.

 

[HydroHarold]

Didn't know I was amonst so many "Wren-ites"! They are the busiest feeders of young you'll ever see and I don't think there's a happier bird song. I watched a pair trying to coax out a "reluctant flyer" a couple years ago. The female brought a bug to the door of the house and wouldn't let the little guy have it until he flew. He finally flew!

I attached the bottom of the house with a couple small screws for cleaning out. Some experts say clean the house out every year some say you don't have to... (Wrens only, your bird habits may vary.) I clean it out. I like the "washer door" idea! I won't have squirrels where the house is now because they're too busy around the front with cob corn on my "squirrel spinner" device. (Corn cob on one end and counterweight on the other, pivot screwed to the stub end of a pine branch in the center of 36" 1X1" piece of scrap cedar. Bushytail goes UP for the corn, waits to ride it down and then gets his kernels when the wheel of furry fortune stops at the bottom.) You gotta make on of these if you like to watch and feed squirrels! It's a riot watching a "new guy" learn the ropes.

For folks unfamiliar with our house wren buddy here's a link to Cornell University's page on him. Scroll down to the "sounds" and click the bar to hear the little guy's calls. I spent the better part of last night on the Cornell sight listening to bird calls and reading up on some of the locals and some of the desert birds I won't hear any more. My cats finally got bored and left when they couldn't see anything flying around the office.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Wren/sounds

 

[thudpucker]

New! This AM with coffee I watched the Winners (in the squabble over the nest box) get busy carrying yard litter into the box.
Competition is fierce. They have to fight to keep the nest Box.


So far no Starlings in our bit tall box. Finches at the feeder, no Wrens to speak of yet.

C'mon Birdies!

 

[lt230s]

We get a wren in our box out by the patio area. They are fun to watch!!!

Also get the blue birds in our other boxes too!!!

Reminds me to build some more since the wind/branches knocked 2 down & smashed them up.

I might even try the bat boxes. We usually get them nesting in the run-in shed for the horses, but could always use some more.

 

[Croc]

We have cardinals and Red-winged blackbirds here, I like listening to both of them talking, just not the grackle with his nest on our chimney! :ROF

 

[lt230s]

Forgot to add that last 2 weeks a tom turkey has been serenading outside our bedroom window about 5:30 in the morning. He must be lonely as I'm sure the hens are sitting on the nests.
How big a bird house would I need for them?????:Stop:

There's also a mockingbird around that usually starts singing as the sun comes up. No need for an alarm clock in the spring & summer.:fing20:

 

[thudpucker]

Those Mocking birds can make a mess out of a sick man's morning sleep in!

LOL, I dont know about those Turkeys. Wild Birds are not as stupid as the Tame ones (Bronze Breasted) that I raised. Dont bother trying to eat them if they are more than 8 weeks old.

I have Wren/Bulebird nests in several places but on the this old one made out of scraps is inhabited as of now. I'm gonna stop buying bird houses at flea Markets. I think they just make nice looking houses. Not something the birds want.