Overview:
This 1916 book, “Bird Houses Boys Can Build,” by Albert F. Siepert, provides a comprehensive guide to building and attracting birds to your yard. Siepert, a professor of manual arts, highlights the joy of attracting birds and the importance of providing safe and welcoming homes for them. The book covers different types of birdhouses, including those made from sawed lumber, rustic materials, and even cement. It offers detailed instructions on dimensions, construction techniques, and placement strategies for various bird species, such as bluebirds, wrens, flickers, and martins. Siepert also emphasizes the need to protect birds from enemies like cats, sparrows, and ants.
The book goes beyond simply building birdhouses and encourages readers to create an entire bird-friendly environment by providing food shelters and bird baths. It offers a variety of designs and construction tips for these elements, helping readers create a flourishing ecosystem for feathered friends.
Key Findings:
- Birds can be attracted to your yard by building them appropriate homes.
- Different bird species have different preferences for their nests.
- Providing food and water sources is crucial for supporting bird populations.
- Protecting birds from predators and pests is essential.
Learning:
- Birdhouse Construction: The book teaches readers practical skills in woodworking and construction, allowing them to build birdhouses using a variety of materials.
- Bird Species Preferences: It introduces readers to different bird species and their unique nesting requirements, teaching them how to build houses that will attract specific birds.
- Bird-Friendly Environment: The book encourages readers to create a welcoming habitat for birds by building food shelters, bird baths, and incorporating other elements that support their needs.
- Environmental Responsibility: It emphasizes the importance of protecting birds and fostering a healthy ecosystem.
Historical Context:
This book was written in 1916, a time when there was growing awareness of environmental conservation. The English sparrow, introduced to America a half-century earlier, had become a pest, displacing native birds. The book reflects this concern by highlighting the need to protect native birds and manage the invasive sparrow population.
Facts:
- Birdhouse Placement: Placing birdhouses in shaded areas and away from direct wind and rain helps protect young birds from harsh weather.
- Birdhouse Materials: Weather-resistant woods like white pine, cypress, and cedar are ideal for building birdhouses.
- Attracting Birds: Offering food like cracked corn, oats, sunflower seeds, and suet attracts a variety of bird species to your yard.
- Bird Bath Safety: Bird baths should be placed in a safe location, away from predators like cats, to protect birds.
- Importance of Water: Providing a consistent source of water is essential for birds, especially during hot weather.
- Bird Enemies: Cats, English sparrows, ants, and other vermin pose threats to bird populations.
- Birdhouse Design: Birdhouses with small entrance holes help prevent larger birds and pests from entering.
- Birdhouse Maintenance: Regularly cleaning birdhouses ensures a healthy environment for birds.
- Robin Nesting: Robins often build their nests on shelves and prefer open nesting spaces.
- Wren Preferences: Wrens will nest in a variety of structures, from tin cans and hollow gourds to specially designed birdhouses.
- Bluebird Nesting: Bluebirds prefer nesting boxes with a small entrance hole placed high off the ground.
- Flicker Habitat: Flickers can be attracted to nesting boxes placed on trees or fence posts.
- Martin Colonies: Martins prefer to nest in colonies and require birdhouses with multiple rooms.
- Woodpecker Nesting: Woodpeckers excavate their own nesting cavities in trees, but will sometimes use nesting boxes.
- Downy Woodpecker Diet: Downy woodpeckers play a vital role in controlling insect populations, particularly harmful grubs.
- Flicker Diet: Flickers consume large quantities of ants, which can be beneficial in controlling ant populations in gardens.
- Martin Diet: Martins are beneficial birds that help control populations of wasps, bugs, and beetles.
- House Finch Diet: House finches are known to consume cultivated fruits and berries, which can be problematic for gardeners.
- Birdhouse Construction: Houses built with rustic materials, such as slabs of wood with bark left on, can attract birds that prefer natural-looking structures.
- Birdhouse Cleaning: Cleaning out birdhouses after the nesting season helps prevent the spread of disease.
Statistics:
- English Sparrow Impact: The English sparrow has become widespread in the United States and Canada, displacing native birds.
- Birdhouse Contest: In 1915, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, produced an estimated 15,000 birdhouses.
- Birdhouse Sales: The St. Paul, Minnesota, birdhouse exhibition generated over $1,000 in orders in 1916.
- Birdhouse Dimensions: A bluebird house should measure approximately 5″ x 5″ x 8″ internally, with a 1.5″ diameter entrance hole placed near the top.
Terms:
- Rustic: Made of natural materials like bark or logs.
- Stucco: A type of plaster made of cement, sand, and water.
- Nesting Box: A man-made structure designed to provide a safe and suitable nesting place for birds.
- Colony: A group of birds that live and nest together in a specific area.
- Vermin: Small animals, like rats, mice, or insects, that are considered pests.
- Migration: The seasonal movement of animals, like birds, from one region to another.
- Suet: A type of animal fat used as a food source for birds, especially during cold weather.
- Hemp: A type of fiber derived from the Cannabis plant, used as a food source for birds.
- Grit: Small particles of gravel or sand that birds consume to help grind food in their gizzards.
- Pedestal: A base or stand used to support an object, like a bird bath.
Examples:
- The Paint Keg House: The book begins with a story of a boy who successfully attracted bluebirds to a simple paint keg he modified into a nesting box.
- The Peer Gynt Cottage: A St. Paul, Minnesota, boy built a miniature replica of Peer Gynt’s cottage to house martins, demonstrating the creative possibilities of birdhouse design.
- The Mercer Center Project: In Seattle, Washington, students built birdhouses to raise money for athletic suits, showing how building birdhouses can be a practical and profitable activity.
- The Pittsburgh Exhibit: The book describes a department store contest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where students showcased their birdhouse creations.
- The St. Paul Exhibit: The St. Paul, Minnesota, birdhouse exhibition, held annually in the city auditorium, is described as a major event attracting thousands of visitors.
- The Window-Sill Lunch Counter: The book includes a detailed design for a window-sill lunch counter, allowing birdwatchers to observe birds up close.
- Mabel the Bird: A food shelter builder shares the story of “Mabel,” a particularly assertive bird who monopolized the food supply, prompting the builder to create additional shelters.
- The English Sparrow Problem: The book highlights the challenges posed by English sparrows, which have become a nuisance due to their aggressive nature and competition with native birds.
Conclusion:
“Bird Houses Boys Can Build” offers a wealth of knowledge for anyone interested in attracting birds and creating a welcoming environment for feathered friends. The book provides detailed instructions for building birdhouses for a variety of species, emphasizes the importance of providing food and water sources, and highlights the need to protect birds from enemies. The book encourages readers to not only build birdhouses but to embrace the broader concept of responsible environmental stewardship, becoming advocates for bird conservation.