Backyard Bird Watching

Go see Songbird Bird Houses, Winter Roosting Boxes for products. After someone has been a backyard bird watcher for a time and been feeding wild birds and providing them with fresh water, people then naturally progress to wanting to provide nesting sites so birds can build their nests and raise babies in the backyard. There is a learning curve when you begin to get into the hobby of providing bird houses and nesting boxes for backyard birds, next thing you know, you are up to your eyes in dimensions, perfect placement, and all sorts of mess! And then you find the birds are gong to do whatever they want anyway! So here are a few basic tips when buying a bird house that actually will attract species to nest in your yard.

 The number one thing I have found is that people get bird houses where the entrancement is too small. There are a zillion opinions and a bunch of numbers you can go over, but I have found that an entrance of 1 1/2" is about right for the widest variety of smaller songbirds. Yes  1 1/4 is good for chickadees and wrens, smaller nuthatches, but that can not accommodate titmice, larger nuthatches and bluebirds. Chickadees, with only one brood per season, usually nest first. Great! They have built a nest and raised their family, the baby birds fledged, and now the box is empty for the summer. If the entrance was 1 1/2", then the box can be used again that season. Bluebirds can have as many as three in a season. Titmice nest after the chickadee.

Don’t paint a birdhouse. Just don’t. Common sense tells you this isn’t natural. If you honestly want to provide a safe habitat for wild birds but insist on something decorative, check into the type of paint that is used carefully and go ahead and add some pretty boxes, but then be sure to provide some good, solid boxes of pine or cedar that are left natural. The wood is eventually going to turn a beautifull silver gray as it ages and be stunning anyway! Plus it is what is best for wild birds along with what is most natural for them. Cavity nesting birds don’t seek out homes in the wild based upon color, and dead trees that have natural cavities or  make good potential homes aren’t painted.

 Lastly, a handy idea is a winter summer convertable roosting box. You can have not only a birdhouse that is perfect for smaller songbirds and bluebirds, but in the winter you can flip the door over so that the enterance is on the bottom, insert perches that come with it and instantly it becomes a winter roost that birds can use to stay out of the freezing weather, cold rains or snows. These are a teriffic idea!

Bluebirds are a favorite of many backyard bird watchers. They are beautiful and very adapted to human populated areas and urban gardens. There are several ways to attract these beautiful birds to a yard or garden habitat.

The first piece of advice that I can give is to provide them with water. They are big on bathing! Bluebirds love water and are a species most likely to use a bird bath not only for drinking reasons but to bathe in. My area is not perfect for them but I have water all about the garden and they visit me daily for a bath. When there are fledglings the babies come as well. Any puddle of water will do, from a flower pot bottom placed on the ground to a garden stake bird bath feeder. Bluebirds will also come close to human dwellings, so if you have a the right area, try a deck, porch or patio hanging bird bath. Both the garden stake style and the hanging baths may also be used as a bird feeder which is a nice touch! They as well can be quite beautiful and enhance outdoor decor.

Garden Stake Bird Bath or feeder:

Another option on bird baths if the desire is to have something which is both pretty and functional are decorative garden metal pedestal bird baths feeders. These can be just stunning and are garden art. They also can be used as bird feeders if wanted.

Something to remember is to keep the bird bath in a safe location out of reach of predators like domestic house cats. Make sure it is in a sunny location as they prefer to bathe in the sun, and there should be a tree, shrub or railing nearby that they can fly to after a bath to preen and fluff their feathers. And don’t forget to provide the birds with water in winter! During winter bluebirds flock in groups, so you can get many of them to visit at one time if a backyard is appealing to them!

Attracting Bluebirds with Bird Houses and Boxes

Bluebirds are cavity nest dwellers and may be easily attracted to a man made bluebird house or box if given the right environment. Bluebirds want large, open spaces with lower cut grass or vegetation and a a couple of spread out trees where they hunt insects, forage and perch from. Insects are their primary food source and they perch on tree limbs, fences to dive down and catch bugs. Rural areas, farms, meadows, groves, open parks, cemeteries, and the edges of urban lawns and gardens are good locations.

Bluebirds can easily use assistance for homes. Bluebirds can’t hollow their own nesting cavities since they have soft beaks not make for chipping wood. Instead they use abandoned woodpecker holes or decomposing trees for their houses. A man made box is a wanted sight to many bluebirds, all the same, they can be a bit more choosy than other birds about how their home is fashioned and the place it is situated.

An effective bluebird house needs to have a floor size of 5" x 5" to 6x6", the height needs to be from 8 to 12", the entry hole needs to be approximately 6 to 10" over the floor and the diameter of the entry hole needs to be 1 1/2". Be certain boxes are built of long-lasting wood such as cedar, have ventilation holes at the top as well as drain holes at the bottom. Other beneficial feature is an simple open front or side panel to monitor on the progression of the nesting birds and their babies without upsetting them.

Feeding Bluebirds  

Throughout the hotter months during the year bluebirds can typically discover adequate food to live with no difficulty.Nonetheless, with heavy weather like extended time of cool, wet weather, snow or once ice covers the majority of wild berries, bluebirds can profit from finding feeder meals. Meal worms, suet, sunflower hearts, soft fruits, as well as cornmeal muffins could be given to bluebirds. Many of these can be consumed throughout the frigid weather months if bluebirds have stayed over. Meal worms are the better food to give bluebirds and they can easily consume them all year long.  In the breeding time of year, it’s good to feed meal worms since the harassed parents will appreciatively take them to assistance feeding their hungry babies. Essentially, it works as a add-on to the natural insect diet bluebirds give their nestlings.

Meal worms may be dished out in whatever sort of shallow dish or container that has smooth and tall enough sides so the meal worms can not crawl out and escape. The feeding dish has to be built of either glass, smooth plastic, metal or ceramic since meal worms will crawl from of bowls with rough sides. There are many styles of bluebird bird feeders available made from different materials, but all cater to these beautiful birds. Designed especially for offering insects and meal worm bird food in a backyard, they go a long way to help attract them! These feeders are made so that insect food can not crawl out and often so that there is no access to the feeder from larger birds.