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Dawn
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 6:00am | IP Logged
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While watching the birdfeeders yesterday, my 6 yo son wondered where all the nests were. "There are so many birds Mama, but where are their homes?."
He was quite concerned (it is a long cold winter where we live). I like to think I know a lot about birds, but I was stumped on this one. I am not sure if birds actually make and keep nests all year, or if this is primarily a spring activity. We can see lots of squirrel homes (drays I think?) in the barren trees, but we can't seem to make out where all these little songbirds are keeping house!
This question also led to questions about ways to help keep the birds safe and warm all year long ... building bird houses with Daddy, and putting out nesting materials, etc. When is it the right time of year to put out nesting materials/boxes/houses etc.? I would guess late winter, early spring.
Thanks for any info.!
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MaryM
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Assure him, the birds don't need nests right now - the need for nests is really confined to the "nesting" time. Winter is a great time to look for old nests though because they really stand out against the bare branches. We did that last year on some nature walks and now that I am more aware I see them everywhere when I am driving. You are right that there are a lot of drays (thanks, I didn't know the name before that) but they tend to be very leafy and in the crotch of big branches. So more formed or twiggy type nests on smaller branches (especially in smaller trees) tend to be birds nest. Many birds like to be in evergreen trees so they are harder to see but you can poke around inside evergreens and often find old nest. When you are around buildings that have rafters or overhangs look there as many birds pick those kind of areas for building. Swallows build the mud nests in those overhang areas and under bridges, etc. In the cities you ofen find birds nests built in the letters of signs for businesses (s, o, e, a, u etc. provide nice little nesting cavities). I think this is a fascinateing topic. Hope more of you have things to share.
Winter Moon by Jean Craighead George has a great little chapter about a typical songbird in winter - "Survive an icy night under a December moon with a song sparrow stalked by a midnight predator in Ohio's suburban meadowland." It taught us about these songbirds' winter home and survival.
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Donna
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 3:33pm | IP Logged
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MaryM wrote:
| Winter is a great time to look for old nests though because they really stand out against the bare branches. |
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I agree  . Last year we found over ten different nests and looked them up in the Peterson Field Guide to Nests . Some even had eggs shells left inside !! It's a great way to do Nature Study in the Winter. After we were through studying the nests, we donated them to a local Nature Preserve.
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Dawn
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| Posted: Jan 12 2006 at 5:04am | IP Logged
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Thank you Donna and Mary for your thoughts!
The weather has turned mild here so I think we may venture out for a nature walk today and look for abandoned nests.
My middle son (who is my sensitive, thinks-about- everyone-else child) was greatly relieved to learn the birds are not pining away for their nests (which he was sure had been blown away during a recent windy storm).
I am really hoping to be more thoughtful and planned in my approach to our nature study this year (I think I say this every year!).
I read somewhere about making your own field guides and I think we may try to do that this year. January could be about birds and looking for signs of life amongst the winter landscape (tracks, old nests etc.).
Thanks again 
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MaryM
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| Posted: Jan 13 2006 at 2:27am | IP Logged
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Dawn wrote:
| This question also led to questions about ways to help keep the birds safe and warm all year long ... building bird houses with Daddy, and putting out nesting materials, etc. When is it the right time of year to put out nesting materials/boxes/houses etc.? I would guess late winter, early spring. |
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If you are interested in putting up bird houses, late winter is the best time to do that. The birds who would use a birdhouse are cavity nesters like woodpeckers, bluebirds, chickadees. According to Attracting Birds to your Backyard most cavity nesters are early when it comes looking for a nesting site. They may begin hunting for a nesting site as early as January or February. The book also suggests nesting shelves for birds like robins.
Here is a book geared to children with ideas for building birdhouses.
Make Your Own Bird Houses and Feeders
And don't these bird houses look adorable? Probably much more decorative than practical - but fun anyway.
Our local botanic garden has a great exhibit and auction every summer of birdhouses that are made in the area. The houses are really creative and often very fancy. I was thinking it would be fun to have a similar exhibit of birdhouses made by children in our homeschooling group, set up like they do at the botanic gardens. Maybe since I've said it here, I'll actually follow through with setting it up.
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Dawn
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Hi Mary,
What great ideas! You have inspired me to start our birdhouse project now! I am famous for making plans for a few months ahead and then never following through. This we can start on as soon as possible.
I like the nesting shelves for robins especially; they look fairly easy to build (easy for me to say! I'll be asking dh to do the actual building part  ) The boys and I are reading The Secret Garden soon and I would like to do a little unit study on robins (who usually start to pop up around here about then).
In fact, we host a weekly homeschool coop with three other families (mostly boys) and I think birdhouse building would be a great idea to do together!
If you end up doing the birdhouse exhibit I would love to hear about it! It might inspire me to do something similar with our larger HS group.
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monica
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kind of related to this post, how do you ATTRACT birds to your bird house? we have made and put up a bird house, and followed the specs for sparrows, which is the most common bird here. i mounted the bird house on fence, not far from our bird feeder and bird bath. so we are waiting with bated breath for a sparrow to take up residence there. any suggestions??
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MacBeth
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Hey Monica!
Birds have very specific needs, but they are easy to meet. Sure, sparrows will come, but there are so many other birds, once you follow these simple instructions, I bet you get a greater variety:
Use several kinds of feed/feeders. Different birds like different food. I get a greater variety (and keep things neater) by hanging a suet feeder in the winter.
Keep the feeder in a sheltered place. Some birds are shy, and like to have a refuge, like a small shrub or brush pile.
Supply water. You can keep a traditional bird bath, or have a drip for constant fresh water. We drip by default, as the outside faucet is a bit old . 
Be patient, and experiment with placement and feed. It may be that a neighbor has a wonderful feeding set-up, and you need to let the birds know that there is a new restaurant in town!
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vmalott
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Dawn,
I remember reading about roosting boxes in a book my dad had on attracting birds to the backyard. Apparently this is a nice place for birds to be sheltered from harsh winter weather. This might make for a good winter project while the weather is still cold and nasty. Well, at least you're supposed to have nastier winter weather up there in New England...
Valerie
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Stephanie_Q
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This looks like a great resource for everyone interested. I just read about it this morning: The Birdhouse Network
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Nests
