Little Ecosystems

Author: Friend2Birds
February 17, 2010

wooden birdhousesWooden birdhouses are an excellent way to introduce wildlife to you front door, and birds are a positive part of a thriving ecosystem. Your front yard could carry a variety of plant and wildlife, if you just let it go without mowing it.  Birds actually bring in lots of other animals and plants.  They bring in plants by eating seeds from the surround area and secrete them onto your lawn when they visit your birdhouse. 

Next insects, smaller bugs, microorganisms, and worms come in to that area to much.  Plants grown, bringing in other birds, squirrels, and raccoons that also what to feed.  This process creates good soil on your lawn and other plants and animals that are bigger come in to grow.  Create a little ecosystem around your house.

Decorate Your Yard with a Birdhouse

Author: Friend2Birds
February 3, 2010

rustic wooden bird houseIf you find that your backyard or porch is missing a little flair, you may want to think of putting up a rustic wooden bird house. Attractive to our winged friends and aesthetically pleasing to the human eye, birdhouses are a great way to add some traditional décor to your home without having to make any big changes.

Simple placement close to your door or purchasing a freestanding birdhouse brings a fuller, homey feel to your domain. Even if you never attract any avian friends, the birdhouse will still serve as a year-round garden decoration. But who knows? You may even get a bird or two to drop by for a visit.

Rustic Wooden Birdhouses

Author: Friend2Birds
January 21, 2010

rustic wooden birdhousesFor many people, landscaping and bird watching go hand in hand. Attract wild birds into your backyard or garden by installing wooden birdhouses on your land. You can make them yourself, or buy an easy-to-assemble kit. Some wooden birdhouses can also be bought ready-made.

Wake up each morning to cheerful chirps from your garden. Offer shelter to beautiful winged creatures so they are motivated to visit. Rustic wooden birdhouses are easy to make, assemble or put up. They are great resting spots for wild birds that are looking for places to stay. Birdhouses are functional décor that make nice additions to any yard.

A Humble Home

Author: Friend2Birds
January 7, 2010

wooden decorative birdhousesBirds are such magnificent creatures. They are not only gifted with flight, they are also blessed with the gift of song. They can surely lift anybody out of the doldrums. Even the fairytale spinners are so enchanted with birds that they made a story about The Bluebird of Happiness. In this story, a young boy and girl travelled to the realm of night in search of a bird that can help cure their sick friend.

Birds make great companions in the garden. So having a resident feathered friend is a real treat. To invite them over, give them a great piece of real estate: wooden decorative birdhouses. They not only get the birds to move in to your backyard, they also make great accent pieces.

Birdhouses Are the Perfect Gift

Author: Friend2Birds
December 17, 2009

rustic birdhouse

Whether it’s for you or someone else, birdhouses make great gifts. They’re the perfect accent to any home and provide years of relaxing bird watching. For a house, an apartment or even an office, a rustic birdhouse also adds that down-home charm of a traditional homestead. Just because you live in the city doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the wildlife!

You can find birdhouses that are affordable at several locations on the internet. Even discount stores frequently charge 2-3 times the internet price for a birdhouse that is probably of lesser quality. Even after shipping, the money I save makes it more than worth it and the quality is something I know I can depend on.

Birdhouse Maintenance

Author: Friend2Birds
December 3, 2009

decorative wooden birdhousesYou might think that once birdhouses are up you can just leave them alone and appreciate new birds every season.  Unfortunately, that is often not the case.  Birdhouses become infested with pests including bees, mice, and even termites in the case of decorative wooden birdhouses.  In addition, the previous winged occupants might leave a mess that will make other birds not want to nest there.

To ensure your birdhouses are used every year, during the winter months when there are no birds inside, you will want to clean them out with water or vacuum them out with a shop-vacuum.  If there happen to be pests inside, ensure the birdhouse is thoroughly cleaned.  For termites, depending on the extent of the damage, you may want to replace the birdhouse or get rid of it.

Ins and Outs of Birdfeeder Placement

Author: Friend2Birds
November 17, 2009

wood bird feedersIn previous weeks, we’ve discussed the benefits of offering birds a variety of food. We’ve also talked about how different foods appeal to different species of birds. Now it’s time to focus on an underrated part of the feeding process: the placement of the feeder. It’s obviously in your best interest to keep the feeder positioned away from overhanging branches; squirrels are only too eager to steal all the seeds they can stuff in their cheeks.

Beyond that, you can make life more convenient for your neighborhood birds by placing the feeders within close proximity of their other daily needs. Just like people, birds appreciate the virtues of a short commute. They don’t want to fly out of their way to get from wood bird feeders to a birdhouse, and the same is true of a birdbath. Why not put all three of these essentials together in the yard to create a thrumming hub of bird activity?

What a Bird Wants, What a Bird Needs

Author: Friend2Birds
November 3, 2009

wooden decorative bird housesSo, you’ve decided to offer a warm, cozy shelter for your feathered friends this winter. Before choosing a birdhouse and hanging it up in your yard, you should take a moment to think like a bird. Well, maybe not literally, but at least consider what attributes of a home the birds will truly appreciate. Generally speaking, birds are interested in comfort, safety and an entrance hole that’s neither too large nor too small.

Wooden decorative bird houses appeal to birds as well as the people who love to watch them. As far as comfort goes, you’ll want to select a house whose walls are nearly an inch thick – this promotes good insulation for the winter months. The house should be secured well off the ground to ensure that predators won’t have easy pickings when the birds leave home.

Supplementing Birds’ Diet with Suet

Author: Friend2Birds
October 22, 2009

decorative-bird-feedersPeanut butter and jelly sandwiches might be one of my dietary staples, but I wouldn’t want to live on PB&J alone. Every once in a while it’s refreshing to fix a BLT or an egg salad sandwich for lunch. Humans aren’t the only creatures that appreciate some variety in their diet. Bird seed is a culinary mainstay for our feathered friends, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t mix things up. Try filling your decorative bird feeders with seed and hanging a suet feeder nearby.

Suet is really just a fancy word for rendered animal fat, and for whatever reason it drives woodpeckers, chickadees, jays and many other birds crazy. You can dress up a block of suet by adding delectable morsels to send birds into a feeding frenzy. Try adding some peanut butter, some chopped apples and raisins. Then sit back and watch as the birds come flocking to your backyard.

Bird-watching in Winter Weather

Author: Friend2Birds
October 8, 2009

rustic-bird-houses

The winter bird count is one of the marquee events for our local Audubon Society chapter. It doesn’t draw as many participants as the summer count, nor does is it as highly anticipated as the potluck dinners, but the winter count provides local bird watchers with hard data about nearby bird populations. Early in December, I and other amateur ornithologists leave our warm, cozy households and venture out into the snow.

We might take a quick glance at the rustic bird houses hanging in the yard to see if any birds are hiding inside, out of the harsh elements. The key is to spread out, with every bird watcher driving to a different part of the neighborhood and making a tally of each unique species encountered. At the end we make a master list of all the birds that have been counted and compare it to previous years.