Bluebird House

I had a few options of things to do today.

#1: Start putting primer on the hideous magenta walls.

#2: Work on the office.

#3: Build a bluebird house.

Guess which one I chose to do.

I looked on-line and there are a myriad sites on "how to build a bluebird house". I'm glad I looked at more than one of those sites because although the houses are basically the same, some of the sites had a little more info. For example: I learned that you should not use smooth wood because the birds climb up the walls of the house. If the walls are smooth they can't get a grip!

There should only by one house every 100 yards because bluebirds are very territorial. I should be able to make a few then, just making sure to place them carefully far enough apart from each other.

There were different views on where to place the house but they all agreed that the house should be placed on a 4 - 6 foot pole. I gathered that the bluebirds like to be near but not in the trees, they like to be in or at the edge of a clearing, and the house should not be placed too close to a pond (so the fledglings don't accidentally fly in and not out!).

I didn't have the recommended cedar board but I did have left-over plywood. To solve the smoothness problem I glued juniper bark on the outside and insides of the house.

I found an old 2 X 4 and put it where I hope is a good spot. It's far enough away from our house so the birds shouldn't get too bothered by us (after all they were on the deck yesterday).

The web sites say not to worry about the house being perfect. The birds need the gaps in the walls and floor for drainage and ventilation. In that case my house is perfect!

The next thing I'm going to make is a small hypertufa drinking station. That should satisfy the need for water for drinking and bathing, yet will be too shallow to dive into (and drown). Other birds can use it also.

Then since it was so beautiful today I took Star out for a long ride on the ridge and when we came back we galloped my loop a few times in both directions.

It was a glorious day!