Bird Houses, Baths and Feeding Shelters: How to Make and Where to Place Them

Part 1

Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

BIRD HOUSES BATHS AND FEEDING SHELTERS HOW TO MAKE AND WHERE TO PLACE THEM

EDMUND J. SAWYER

CRANBROOK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE Bulletin No. 1, Fifth Edition

Fifth Edition Copyright 1955 by The Cranbrook Institute of Science Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

First printed as "Bird Houses" First Edition, March, 1931, 2000 copies Second Edition, February, 1938, 1500 copies

Revised and enlarged to include western species, baths, and shelters Third Edition, December, 1940, 3000 copies Fourth Edition, June, 1944, 5000 copies June, 1951, 4000 copies Fifth Edition, July, 1955, 6000 copies September, 1963, 5000 copies

Printed by Litho-Art, Inc., from type set and printed by the Cranbrook Press

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword 5 Bird Houses and Common Sense 7 Some Current Notions Corrected 7 General and Miscellaneous 11 Material 11 Entrance 11 Nails 13 Slabs 13 Facilities for House Cleaning 13 Position of Boxes 13 Undesired Tenants 14 Thickets 15 Dimensions for Various Houses 16 House Wren 18 Other Wrens 18 Black-capped Chickadee 18 Other Chickadees 19 White-breasted Nuthatch 20 Other Nuthatches 20 Tufted Titmouse 20 Tree Swallow 21 Other Swallows 21 Eastern Bluebird 21 Other Bluebirds 22 Crested Flycatcher 22 Flickers 23 Purple Martin 25 Tree-nesting Ducks 27 Hawks and Owls 28 Common House Finch 29 Robin and Phoebe 29 Bird Baths 33 Food Stations 35

ILLUSTRATIONS

Bluebirds 4 Nesting Sites, Natural and Artificial 9 The Best and Most Simple Form of Artificial Nesting Site 12 Discouraging the Uninvited Guest 14 A Simple and Effective Box Bird House 17 A Chickadee Family 19 The Martin House 24 Nesting House for Ducks 26 An Easy-to-make Box 27 Nest Boxes for the House Finch 30 Nesting Shelves for Robins and Phoebes 30, 31 Bird Baths 32 Types of Feeding Stations 34 Drinking and Bathing Station for Winter Use 36 Wood Ducks Back Cover

Foreword

Most species of the smaller birds which nest in hollow trees, and therefore in bird houses, suffer seriously from intrusion by English Sparrows and European Starlings. These two species, nesting in similar locations and being prolific, tend to take up all available nesting cavities, even ejecting native birds which have built or begun to build. This condition, already serious, may become far more baneful than we are as yet able to realize. It may even contribute to the eventual extinction of Bluebirds, Crested Flycatchers, and Purple Martins unless we provide nesting sites sufficient in number and suitable in kind for all. The number of natural nesting sites is already far below that required by these birds, and yet the Starlings in particular are increasing alarmingly. There is no way to determine when a final adjustment or balance will be reached or what the numerical status of our native bird-house dwellers will be when such balance shall have been attained.

In the case of the native species named above, we can at least help by providing proper nesting boxes which will induce the birds to concentrate about our houses, where the European Starling and the English Sparrow menace may be more easily and effectively met than elsewhere. The reader should note that the imported English Sparrow, which is in reality a weaver finch and unrelated to our tuneful native sparrows, is the only "sparrow" east of the Rocky Mountains that nests in holes or bird houses. The shyer, more desirable, native species are invariably harmless and should be both protected and encouraged.

The smaller of the bird-house species, such as the House Wren, Tree Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Tufted Titmouse are less affected by the intruders. These smaller birds can use, and usually select, cavities with openings too small for either Starling or English Sparrow to enter. However, there is still a distinct practical advantage in providing proper boxes for House Wrens and other small species. In many instances these birds fail to find places safe from the ubiquitous English Sparrow and European Starling, which then proceed in their well-known manner to work destruction. A properly made wren house, chickadee house, or swallow house can be absolutely safe from the foreign invaders.

More nesting sites, properly made and situated, are desirable, owing to the destruction of birds' traditional nesting sites over wide acreages about cities and other settled areas, but the providing of suitable bird houses needs no defense or excuse. Whether it be the beautiful and demure bluebird, "bird of happiness," the sleek and immaculate swallow, the songful wren, "saucy and impudent," the bustling and industrious chickadee, or the alert and noisy flycatcher, the native tenant of the bird house will be an interesting and entertaining neighbor, always prompt to pay his rent in one form or another or in many forms and with interest. Does one need any special excuse for offering hospitality to such a neighbor? When birds nest on our home grounds, their destruction of garden pests, mosquitos, gnats, and other undesirable insects is concentrated where we can most directly profit from the results--our own greater comfort and safety, better gardens, more productive orchards, more verdure in shade trees and in ornamental trees and shrubs.

Bird Houses and Common Sense

Although there are a number of points which should be considered in the proper designing and placing of a bird house, there is one simple idea which practically covers the whole subject. Every species of our small native birds that nests in a bird house nested originally in a hollow tree, by preference in a hollow of one unvarying type--the burrow made by a woodpecker. Thus we need only know what the burrow of a woodpecker is like and we have automatically solved in a general way the questions of material; size and shape of entrance; diameter, depth and form of cavity; height above ground; and situation. The nature of nesting material and its whereabouts should play absolutely no part in human plans for the prospective tenants. "Unfurnished" rooms are the only kind for which birds are looking.

There is solid ground for assuming a woodpecker's burrow to be the ideal pattern for a bird house. The woodpecker, whatever its species, free to excavate any form of chamber that it might wish, invariably uses one type of burrow. The birds which by preference habitually adopt for their own use the woodpecker's abandoned home have likewise thus placed their own age-old stamp of approval on that type. It is logical to assume, therefore, that the artificial bird house should follow at least the general plan of that long-tried and preeminently successful nesting site. Since a theory may be plausible while yet utterly untenable in actual application, it remains to add that abundance of experience in building and placing bird houses all goes to prove the foregoing basic principle soundly correct in practice. With or without benefit of the plans and specifications in such a bulletin as this, a person who takes his cue from a woodpecker will not go far wrong. In planning a bird house, we must continually hark back to the idea of the woodpecker's burrow--or rather, we should never quite lose sight of it.

Some Current Notions Corrected

Attention should be called to some common misconceptions. The colony bird house, or any bird house with more than one compartment, is always a mistake unless it has been designed for Purple Martins. Yet certain firms have for years been advertising "wren houses" of four or more chambers. One who knows this pugnacious little bird tries in vain to imagine two pairs of wrens living peaceably under one small roof! Every bird house should consist of one, and only one, chamber--with the single exception of a house intended for the Purple Martin, which nests in colonies.

The cubic capacity of the bird houses one sees is nearly always much too great--often several times too great. Builders seem to believe that the diameter of the nesting chamber should at least equal the total length of the bird--a theory as erroneous as it is plausible. Plate I illustrates the fact that the sitting bird normally occupies a space measuring much less from side to side than the outstretched length of the bird. Figure No. 4, Plate I, shows how much work is often made for the House Wren, while figure No. 5, on the same plate, shows how greatly this work may be reduced--with the greater inducement to the prospective occupant.

The square or rectangular door is another frequent mistake--a projection of the designer's own plantigrade and vertical personality.

To place the entrance at or near floor level is also an error. Remember that birds close no doors against drafts, that their "beds" are laid on the floor and consist of light straws, feathers, or other flimsy materials.

Many a wren house with entrance (as it should be) too small for any English Sparrow to enter, is hung swinging from a branch as a further protection against the unwanted sparrow. That is like beheading a criminal and then, "just to be on the safe side," shooting him into the bargain! It is said that wrens do not hesitate to use these swinging nesting sites, but we have our serious doubts. We have personally seen one instance of a wren nesting in the pensile home of a Baltimore Oriole, but it is significant that in this case we failed to find any better site nearby. Some persons report success with this type of house and prefer it because of the ease of putting it up and taking it down without injury to a living tree.

Continue reading Bird Houses, Baths and Feeding Shelters: How to Make and Where to Place Them free in the Wunder reader →