At a time when the infrastructure of forests and grasslands is being disturbed by humans, animals are often forced to leave their natural habitat and move to areas inhabited by humans. The construction of houses and nesting boxes for birds in urban spaces can be a great help for individuals that need to get used to new living conditions. You can prepare such houses for them in your garden! See how to do it and where to place nesting boxes.
Bird houses are called two types of structures – feeders and nesting boxes. You can easily buy both at most home improvement stores and online. However, if you have some wood or plywood in your basement or garage, you can build such a house yourself without spending money. The feeder house does not need to have a very complicated structure at all, a stable base and a simple canopy on posts will be enough. You can make such a feeder together with your children in a dozen minutes.
Slightly more complicated in construction are nesting boxes. They must be neither too small nor too large. The best dimensions for most birds living in Poland are 25 cm high for the front wall, 27 cm for the back wall, 13×13 cm in the base, and the entrance hole should be at a height of 15 cm from the bottom and have a diameter of 3.5 cm. The canopy of such a box should run at a slant, so that other birds or insects do not build nests and colonies on it, and so that predators have difficult access to it. Do not place anything inside the nesting box, a bird that decides to live in your house will build a nest on its own. Near the nesting box you can place some cotton wool or your pet’s hair, which the birds will be happy to use for construction.
The nesting box in the garden should be located in the quietest and most remote corner, so that the noises do not scare away the birds. It is worth installing such a box at a fairly high height, so that predatory animals can not get to it so easily, and so that the birds have a sense of security and distance from people. Peace, quiet and the absence of danger will create ideal conditions for birds to mating, build a nest in the box and raise their offspring.
A bird feeder is primarily a garden attraction for many people. It may be located in a prominent place to allow observation of the birds eating food, but when choosing a location for it, keep in mind that it is to serve the birds first and foremost. It can be located on a thicker and slightly protruding tree branch, on a terrace beam or by a fence. Place the feeder on an elevation, for example, so that rodents do not eat its contents, and put it on a stable place that will allow birds to rest in such a house.
For years, the “food” for birds was old, often moldy bread, leftovers from dinner or lard. Nowadays, awareness of what birds should eat is growing, and fortunately, fewer and fewer people are feeding them harmful bread. In your bird house you can put grain feed available in pet stores or special balls made of tallow and grains, which are healthy and safe for birds.
main photo: unsplash.com/Laura Ohlman
