Mith said:I heard that by varying the size of the entrance hole on the bird house you can allow various different types of bird to nest there, anyone have any more information on this?
B_Skurka said:Are there any birds that might be benificial to attract to eat some of the pest bugs like mosquitoes?
What types of bird houses do they need (big or small entry holes, tall or low mounting height, etc)?
Mith said:murph, we dont have any birds that look as bright as those have there. Do you attract them to your property, or did they come before you placed a box?
BTW, I found a website that has drawings to make a Peterson box here
B_Skurka said:Murph, any photos of your birdhouses?
Is the plan that Mith posted the type you used? What type of mounting requirements are there, do they have to face a specific direction (for example south to pick up the summer sun or maybe east to prevent the prevailing westerly winds from entering the entry hole). Do you position high on a tree? Or low on a pole? What about the surrounding area, some birds like to be in the woods, some on margins along fields.
If I want to attract these birds I presume there is a specific set of requirements that is a lot more specific than just the shape of the birdhouse????
Thanks, I know my wood working skills are pretty sad but these are usually projects for spending time with my boys (and they think these look good). You have seen purple martin houses before haven’t you? It’s based on that concept, just made it up as I went along. The point of all the rooms is not to have them all full at one time but to have room for the birds second nesting cycle. Some birds (including purple martins) will nest twice a summer and don’t want to spend all that time in one room, so they move to a different one. None of the holes on the brown house are big enough for martins, because I wasn’t planning on putting it in a good location for martins and I didn’t want starlings moving in. Just put up as many different ones as you can. You are more likely than not to have someone move in, and if you’re lucky you will get a few spare minutes during the summer to watch and enjoy.Mith said:elsmitro, that look like a bird mansion on your second picture! Would it not be a problem having so many boxes so close together?
Mith said:Thats quite impressive Murph. Are the birds getting more tame, can you get closer to them than what you could when you started attracting them to your property?
thcri said:few more
working woman said:that is a nice birdhouse. Looks like it keeps the squirrels out and has a solid covering so the rain dosent clump the food!
thcri said:The screened in box on top of my deck that you see the birds on are the feeder. I have a Peteron box but you can not see it very well in the pictures. Maybe if I get home earlier enough from work I can go out and take a picture. But the screen box is only a feeder.
murph
B_Skurka said:What about Purple Martins? Don't those eat mosquitoes too?