Attracting Birds to your Yard with Proper Shelter from Schmeg.com

  

SHELTER-
Birds, like other animals, require a number of dif ferent kinds of shelter. They look for a handy haven when threatened by a predator. They need a place to rest and sleep and be protected from driving wind, rain, and snow. And they need a secure spot to raise their young.

The last of these requirements is the most specific. Birds can be very fussy about where they will nest. The ovenbird constructs a little domed hut on the forest floor, while orioles weave a delicate bag high in the branches of an elm or maple. When dive-bombed by a hawk, however, a nearby thicket of almost any sort will be a welcome sanctuary for quite a number of birds.

Many of the same plants that provide food also offer shelter, though birds may not nest where they feed. So, once again, plan a varied landscape to accommodate a range of birds. Choose plants of differing heights and densities. Because a few large trees can dominate a city lot, shrubs and smaller trees allow for more diversity. Evergreens are particularly valuable. Hollies, junipers, pines, and cedars all provide year-round shelter and food. In warmer climates, evergreen oaks and southern magnolia do the same. "Natural" hedges and screens that are pruned lightly if at all are likely to work better for birds. Formal, sheared hedges can develop almost impenetrably dense branching structures.

Wildlife is prolific where different habitats meet. Naturalists call this the "edge effect." You can create similar conditions by planting a small woodland on one corner of the property or along a fence line, with trees at the back and shrubs of various sizes extending to the lawn or, better yet, a strip of "meadow" where native grasses mingle with wildflowers.

Shelter needn't be alive. Dead trees, piles of brush, hollow logs, eaves and attics of buildings can all be valuable. Tidy people attempting to encourage wildlife have to balance their desire for orderliness with the attractions of a "messy" landscape to birds and other creatures.

Birdhouses-
Sometimes the natural cover you can provide isn't right for nesting. And sometimes children (and adults) want to take a more active role in nature's domestic dramas. Whatever the reason, people have been building birdhouses for a long time.

You need not be much of a carpenter to build a sat isfactory birdhouse (or nesting box, as they are more accurately called). All you need is a hand saw, brace-and-bit or electric drill, hammer, and a few nails. A small supply of 3/4-inch-thick wood, purchased at the local lumberyard or home center or salvaged from a tumbled-down barn, will work just fine.

Birds don't really care what style the structure assumes, but they have definite preferences for the accommodation's interior dimensions, the size of the main entrance and its height above the box floor, and the box's height above the ground.

In addition to making the box the right size, make it easy to clean so you can offer it year after year. A hinged roof or removable floor works best for cleaning. Remember how stuffy a tightly enclosed room can be on a warm day, so don't make the box airtight; add slits if necessary for ventilation. Bore small holes in the floor so rainwater can drain out. Birds are more likely to nest in a box that is stationary than in one swinging in the breeze.

If you put it on a pole, add a bowl as described for feeders to discourage unwanted guests. When you place a box, try to think like a bird-where will the box be safest from predators?

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