To build a Birdhouse
To build a Birdhouse
Me & My Birdhouse, 2024
In 2024 I found the book “Vogelhäuser selbst gebaut” by Ramuz, McAllister and Magrill (2001) in a giveaway box in my street and I was fascinated about the crazy designs it features. Look at this one:
Ufo Birdhouse (photo taken from the book “Vogelhäuser selbst gebaut”
However, I opted to go for a more classic design and paint it with bold colours.
Classic design with red-white house painting
In 2024, sadly no tenants moved in. It was only later that I found in a document issued by NABU (The Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union Germany) that bright colors should be avoided when painting birdhouses, as birds prefer environments where they can stay hidden and secure with their young. Seems like a reasonable choice! Maybe also the timing of placing the birdhouse outside might not have been ideal.
Let’s see, maybe I will go for a repaint in 2025 and hoping for better success in attracting tenants.
Primary coating in white
Crafting the birdhouse from wood proved more challenging than anticipated. Initially, I attempted to saw the wood into the correct shape at home. However, achieving precise and straight edges was difficult.
Crafting a house demands preciseness
Consequently, I moved to use the facilities at Hobbyhimmel, a co-working workshop in Stuttgart, where they have a professional band saw. This tool did the job; allowing me to cut the wood with the precision and accuracy needed for a nice birdhouse.
The size of the entrance hole can determine which species of birds are likely to use the house.
Different diameters invite different species
To me, there is a certain magic in the simple act of placing a birdhouse outside and inviting the birds to move in. It feels really incredible for me, that it’s possible to hang out a birdhouse and just by simply hanging it out, you may expect birds to find it and to move in (maybe even gratefully).
Last year, I saw a Sparrow flying around the edges of the roof at my parents’ home who live near a forest. Watching the Sparrow really gave me a feeling of their remarkable adaptability and intelligence - their ability to explore and to make the most of their surroundings to fulfill their needs; their ability to fly around, observe, and understand where they could find a cozy spot for themselves and their young.
Experiencing this warmed my heart and gave me a sense of my connection to the natural world; to me, it emphasised the interplay between humans and nature, how we coexist and that we share the very same spaces around us.
In this regard also see the incredible articles posted by the New York Times in 2023 (paywall) and by The Audubon Society in the same year about bird’s nests built out of bird-countermeasures and materials thought up to deter birds (see picture below).
Those articles left me somewhat in awe: It really seems impossible to draw a neat line between ourselves and the natural world. We’re already interwoven, a division seems impossible, and even the sharpest technology or sheerest force cannot break this bond. Those nests made out of spikes could also be a metaphor of how sometimes choosing ways to work with nature instead of against it can be more sustainable in the long run.
“Eurasian Magpie nest constructed with anti-bird spikes, seen in a sugar maple tree in Antwerp, Belgium.” Photo: Auke-Florian Hiemstra, 2023. See link bottom of page.
In this sense - fingers crossed for 2025 to have someone move in :)!
Links:
“Vogelhäuser Selbst Gebaut Mit Bauanleitungen Für 20 Modelle” (2001) by Ramuz, McAllister and Magrill in Bindlach: Gondrom. see worldcat
They’re Outsmarting Us’: Birds Build Nests From Anti-Bird Spikes, 2023 in The New York Times
Apparently Magpies and Crows Are Using “Anti-Bird Spikes” to Make Their Nests, 2023 published in The National Audubon Society, News Section
