Making Nesting Platform
I've made regular and triangular birdhouses and they have both been used for several broods each season. This year I want to add some nesting platforms.
I read in my trusty Audubon bird book that Robins, Blue Jays and Mourning Doves can be convinced to use nesting platforms.
I was procrastinating doing some epoxy work on my Scamp so I made a couple of nesting boxes.
I hope to attract any of these birds to my nesting box.
Apparently they will all nest in open boxes. I think that the boxes I made might be too small for the mourning doves. We'll see.
I had some very poor lumber, very knotty pine with lots of flaws but I was able to cut around the worst and make a couple of boxes. The lumber was 5.5 inches wide. I suppose nominal 6 inches.
All my angled cuts were made on the chop saw. It's all a bit inaccurate but the pieces mostly came together. They are glued with waterproof glue and then screwed.
The piece I used for the roof was too narrow so I glued a slight extention so that rain would not come in.
I drilled a few holes in the bottom to act as drainage holes. I don't know if it's really necessary but it can't hurt.
I'm not planning to put any finish on the nesting box but I roughly sanded them so there is no splinters or really sharp edge.
I'll have to find some spots that squirrels can't get to. I think under the eaves or against a wall.
I was scouting for a good location and I noticed one of the bird houses already has a little face peeking out of it. It's awfully early to start. It snowed today.
I could not make out what kind of bird it was. There are an awful lot of plain little brown birds around.
During the early winter I noticed that one of the downy woodpecker had moved in one of the boxes to sleep at night. I guess the bird houses are not just used to lay eggs.
I made other kinds of birdhouse
Here are the build photos for the Triangular Shaped houses. Here is a link to the regular rectangular boxes.
Email Christine
Popular Woodworking book on easy to build Birdhouses
Practical AND fanciful birdhouses
Bluebird house
Bird watching bliss web page has bird house plans and lots more.
Cornell University has lots of info about birds. including an all about birds page. They also have links to live webcams of bird nests and bird feeders.
David Suzuki's bird cake recipe
Woodworkers Workshop has lots of plans for bird feeders They also have lots of Birdhouse plans as well