Collecting Bird Houses

January in Tennessee!  It’s still to early to plant, but it is the perfect time to ready Birdhouses for the arrival of our feathered friends.  It’s time to clean out your old houses.  If you’re into collecting bird houses, maybe you can find just the right spot for a couple of new ones!

Give time and thought to protecting the birds.  Invite them to stay in your garden with places to nest, feed & birdbaths to splash in.  They will reward you in many ways.  Besides being delightful to watch, their songs will lighten your heart.  Birds eat nearly their weight in food everyday, helping control insect populations in your garden.

The desire for collecting bird houses and displaying them in our gardens is two fold:

  1. To encourage these delightful creatures to live close by.
  2. Our enchantment at seeing a funny little shanty or weathered cottage tucked into a hedge row.

These miniature houses add a playful architectural element to any type of garden.

Different Types of Birds

Different species of birds prefer different sizes & placements of houses.  Martins are social, gregarious insect eaters and prefer condominium style housing.  Robins are rather large for a songbird and prefer platforms to construct their heavily mudded nests upon.  Bluebirds are a bit more finicky, because they want their houses to be around 5 feet off the ground.  They also prefer the hole to be facing away from prevailing wind and rain.  Ideally placed in an open area, but with trees and shrubs withing 100′.  Being very territorial, they don’t want neighbors any closer than 150 yards.  The House Wren on the other hand, will nest almost anywhere.  In your hanging basket ferns or funny nooks and crannies in a storage shed or garage.  They almost seem to think that when they decide to nest in an area, every bird house is theirs.  They will fill all houses they find with fake nests.

So you see, if you want to attract a certain type of bird you need to do some homework.  There are lots of choices when it comes to collecting bird houses.  If you will welcome all species, purchase and hang all types of whimsical and functional houses that “speak to you”.  Enjoy watching who prefers which.

Bird Houses Inside!

Finally, some of the birdhouses are such works of art that they never make it oustide! With intricate architectural details and colors, we incorporate them into our indoor decor.  Sometimes we find an antique birdhouse that is too old to survive outside any longer, so in it comes.  Tucked into a bookshelf, displayed on a coffee table, or perched high on a kitchen cabinet top.  Birdhouses simultaneously connect us to nature & architecture in the most pleasing way.