HANGING BIRDHOUSES - 4/1/20



 HANGING BIRDHOUSES

By PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi

In my den I was beginning to have a big collection of birdhouses that hadn’t been hung up. Since most of my family and friends know about my love of birds most of my Birthday, Christmas and little “Happies” center on birds. My daughter had given me a beautiful two story birdhouse last year for Mother’s Day and I had yet to hang it.  So I researched the proper way to hang a birdhouse and where to hang it. 

 

One of the places that I researched was on Arboristnow.com.  A tree is one of the places that most people hang birdhouses, but according to this site it is very easy to damage the tree and open it up to a host of diseases.  Birds are having real problems finding a place for their nests because forests are disappearing.  Many birds such as Eastern Blue Birds and White-breasted Nuthatches are cavity nesters and they are in need of bird houses due to the lack of trees to nest in.  Since I would love to have either of these birds come live in my yard, my first thought was to hang some of my birdhouses on my oak trees.  One of the reasons that I hadn’t hung my birdhouses was because they did not come with hardware or instructions on how best to hang them.  So this site gave me a wealth of information on the things not to do and options of what to do.

 

What not to do: Don’t nail or screw your birdhouse to a tree - these can damage the tree’s bark and expose it to fungi, bacteria, viruses and bugs.  Their best recommendation is to use straps around the tree and either Velcro or buckle the strap together and hook the bird house to the straps.  Don’t tighten the straps too tightly because that can also damage the tree, but since birds are light weight they don’t require the strap to be too tight.  You can also use a cord or rope to bind the bird house to the tree, but again don’t make these too tight.  Protecting your tree is important because even though an additional bird house can help out the birds and also give you a wonderful place to enjoy seeing birds nesting in your yard, the tree is probably already a wonderful home to countless birds.

 

According to Wikihow.com – you can also place bird houses on fences, brick walls, a pole in the yard or nail them to smooth siding on your house.  Brick and smooth siding are hard for predators to climb and this will keep your birds and their eggs safer.

 

We see dozens of squirrels on a daily basis in my yard and we have also seen raccoons and possums from time to time.  Because these critters enjoy bird eggs for their breakfast, my husband decided to hang my Mother’s Day bird house on a post in my backyard.  I hope that you will consider hanging bird houses at your home and during this time of in home working and living it will be a joy to “look at the birds of the air.” Matthew 6:26.

My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”. E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com

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