Edmund J. Sawyer

“ Since a theory may be plausible while yet utterly untenable in actual application, it remains to add that abundance of experience in building and placing bird houses all goes to prove the foregoing basic principle soundly correct in practice. With or without benefit of the plans and specifications in such a bulletin as this, a person who takes his cue from a woodpecker will not go far wrong. In planning a bird house, we must continually hark back to the idea of the woodpecker’s burrow—or rather, we should never quite lose sight of it. ”

“ When they nest in a building, it is nearly always a deserted human dwelling or some other structure made originally for man’s own use. In other words, the only sort of bird house at all likely to attract Robin or Phoebe would be one of cavern-like proportions in keeping with one type of natural site which both species favor, especially the Phoebe.
The architecture of most human dwellings is such that either Robin or Phoebe would find nesting-sites, as they often do, over windows, under porches, or about eaves. ”

“ What glass is for the window, wood is for the bird house. First, the birds are habituated to it. It is a good nonconductor of heat, it resists rain and extremes of temperature, and it can be made to harmonize with its setting. Over a long period of time it improves, rather than suffers, from exposure to the weather.
Soft wood with straight grain, such as pine or spruce, is preferable. It is easily worked, may be nailed with little danger of serious splitting, and is sufficiently durable. Slab wood, with or without the bark, and old fence-boards make the most generally effective bird houses. ”

“ Cold alone is scarcely a menace, while snow and sleet are chiefly harmful only when they cover up the food. Given proper food, the only real requirement for a feeding station from the birds’ point of view is that it shall keep the food available, as by providing a roof to shed snow and ice. Among the wide variety of birds which frequently patronize food stations, various members of the sparrow and finch family, which includes the grosbeaks, juncos, and crossbills, vie with nuthatches, chickadees, woodpeckers, and blue jays as the most dependable boarders. ”

“ Owls and hawks are as interesting as other birds, and a wood, suitable in size and character, which lacks the quota of owls or hawks natural to it will always be lacking in one of its most proper assets and characteristics. To the true nature lover a great wild forest from which owls are excluded might seem, at best, an arboretum where there might as well be a name tag on each tree-trunk. ”

“ An occasional nesting site for owls in a wood of many acres, an appropriate box or two for Sparrow Hawks in a waste tract or along a few hundred yards of woodside will invite us to visit these places more often and will provide a new zest to the visits. At the same time, we are but following nature’s way of balancing the wildlife. Nor will the smaller birds be seriously affected; there may be a tendency for many of them to move in a little closer toward our dwellings for increased safety. ”

“ Most species of the smaller birds which nest in hollow trees, and therefore in bird houses, suffer seriously from intrusion by English Sparrows and European Starlings. These two species, nesting in similar locations and being prolific, tend to take up all available nesting cavities, even ejecting native birds which have built or begun to build. ”

“ Every species of our small native birds that nests in a bird house nested originally in a hollow tree, by preference in a hollow of one unvarying type—the burrow made by a woodpecker. Thus we need only know what the burrow of a woodpecker is like and we have automatically solved in a general way the questions of material ”

“ For inspecting the nest and, at the end of the season, for cleaning out the old nest material, the top or some other section of the house should always be easily removable. Exceptions to this rule are houses for ducks and other larger birds, for which the entrance may be large enough and the depth not too great for all such purposes. Do not open a house in the owner’s presence. The more brief and infrequent your inspections, the less they will disturb the birds. ”

“ When nesting about inhabited buildings he cannot well afford to dispense with the vigilance of his human landlords. Small, quiet, and peace-loving, he is a particularly poor match for the pugnacious sparrow. Specifications for the Tree Swallow house are given in Table I. See also Plate III. The inner wall, between floor and entrance, must be rough or provided with cleats, in order to give the young a sure foothold. Several pairs of Tree Swallows will willingly nest near one another. ”

“ The Red-breasted, Brown-headed, and other small nuthatches share the hollow-tree nesting habit common to the family. They prefer locations of the wilder kind, so that the usual bird house is not likely to entice them away from less sophisticated haunts. Yet it appears likely that any of the species might select an imitation of its natural nesting site. Build as for the White-breasted, except that the entrance should be but 11⁄4 inch in diameter.
The Tufted Titmouse
The Tufted Titmouse is common in the south, where its distribution is also much more uniform than in the north. ”

“ Go as far as you like, the Martin will pace you. However, for those who would consider the bird’s point of view to be of greater importance than their own, appropriate suggestions are offered in Table I and in Plate IV. If painted white the house will be cooler and may be preferred by the birds. The reader should be advised that Martins are temperamental and will sometimes refuse to occupy a suitable house because of some dislike for its situation. ”

“ There is also another class of possible bird-house occupants to be dealt with—the owls and the Sparrow Hawk. The owls and the hawks are usually considered taboo on account of their fondness for the smaller birds which most persons wish to encourage. One does not ordinarily keep cats and canaries in the same restricted and common area and expect pleasing results. ”

“ For winter birds in the northern states, it is well to have the station in place and stocked with food as early as the first of November. These birds are then beginning to establish hunting grounds and routes, from which they will not stray all winter. Earlier in the fall, as again in spring, ground feeding is the better method. ”

“ Build and place the house for the one precisely as for the other. The western bird seems much more inclined than the eastern to adopt nesting sites in or close to human dwellings.
The Mountain Bluebird will use the same type of house; its location, of course, should correspond with the local haunts of the species.
The Crested Flycatcher
There is a peculiar satisfaction in successfully providing a house for those species, such as the Crested Flycatcher, which do not ordinarily resort to artificial nesting sites. ”

“ The stump or tree which is to form the support for the house, and also the entrance to the house itself, should be in plain sight from the water. It may be a hundred feet from the nearest shore, but the nearer the shore the better. A lone trunk, or one of several on the edge of a wood, will do. Avoid placing the house too near the ground. Further specifications are given in Table I and Plate V.
Hawks and Owls
We have alluded to undesirable tenants, meaning usually, or in particular, the English Sparrow and European Starling. ”

“ The several western and extreme southwestern forms of the native House Finch may, for our present purposes, be grouped with birds like the Robin and Phoebe which find such a number and variety of chance but suitable nesting sites that to provide still others may seem superfluous effort. ”

“ Other Chickadees
The Mountain and other chickadees share the natural nesting habits of the Black-cap. Since this group is composed of birds of practically uniform size, a house for any species should be the same as that described for the Black-cap.
However, chickadees are in general birds of the woods. Few or none come so near to being birds of “home grounds” as do the Black-caps. ”

“ The bird bath lends itself to endless variations in size, shape, style, material, and cost. Often one may find a large boulder which, at the expense of moving to the desired spot, will prove a ready-made bath if it has a shallowly concave side. ”

“ It may even contribute to the eventual extinction of Bluebirds, Crested Flycatchers, and Purple Martins unless we provide nesting sites sufficient in number and suitable in kind for all. The number of natural nesting sites is already far below that required by these birds, and yet the Starlings in particular are increasing alarmingly. There is no way to determine when a final adjustment or balance will be reached or what the numerical status of our native bird-house dwellers will be when such balance shall have been attained. ”

“ This is the only desirable colony-forming bird-house tenant. Therefore the apartment type of house is a waste of material unless intended for Purple Martins and designed accordingly. Of the desirable bird-house clientele, none is quite so sophisticated as the Martins in the matter of a satisfactory location. ”

“ In the case of the native species named above, we can at least help by providing proper nesting boxes which will induce the birds to concentrate about our houses, where the European Starling and the English Sparrow menace may be more easily and effectively met than elsewhere. ”

“ The cubic capacity of the bird houses one sees is nearly always much too great—often several times too great. Builders seem to believe that the diameter of the nesting chamber should at least equal the total length of the bird—a theory as erroneous as it is plausible. Plate I illustrates the fact that the sitting bird normally occupies a space measuring much less from side to side than the outstretched length of the bird. Figure No. 4, Plate I, shows how much work is often made for the House Wren, while figure No. ”

“ Compare length of bird with diameter of nesting chamber. 4, A wren house, as frequently made, of eight to ten times the necessary cubic capacity. 5, A wren house of proper and ample size.
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Overcrowding is a prevalent fault. On an area insufficient properly to harbor two pairs of wrens or bluebirds there will often be a half-dozen or more bird houses. Tree Swallows are social birds and will occupy boxes placed near to one another, but ordinarily, birds, especially those of the same species, do not build near each other. ”

“ The care of a food station consists mostly in keeping up a supply of the proper foods and cleaning out the food trays as often as the condition suggests. A small separate tray of coarse sand will provide the grit many birds require. ”

“ Moreover, this is often the only desirable species which can be induced to build in so civilized and restricted a place as a small city lot. Slab construction may be employed or old weathered boards used, but new lumber seems nearly or quite as welcome to the wren.
Plate III illustrates a wren house and gives directions for building. Distance from the ground to the entrance of the house should be from 8 to 18 feet. The place safest from cats is on the side of a building. ”

“ It may be almost any shape, but not less than 20 feet in average diameter or much less than 400 square feet in area. Here weeds, tall grass, briars, and dense bushes are allowed to grow wild, forming a tangle as they will. ”