Traditional box style bluebird house
I recently completed a couple of bluebird houses made from discarded fence rails that were “rescued” from a burn pile at Sunny Meadows Farm in Chelmsford, MA.
Over April vacation, my sons and I worked with our town’s Open Space Stewardship program to help establish a tree nursery at Sunny Meadow Farm. In addition to the plot used to grow trees for the town’s use, the half acre property includes the Walter F. Lewis Community Garden where residents are given plots of farm land to grow their own crops.
While building a large brush pile that day, I noticed a few pieces of the original horse chewed fence rails had been stacked in the burn pile. Seeing the beauty of the patina of the boards, which had taken decades to form, and being a big fan of recycling materials, I grabbed a few of the discarded boards and loaded them into my truck.
Peterson style bluebird house
Both bluebird houses share functional features such as a pivoting wall for easy clean-out, canopied roof, ventilation and drainage holes, and copper lined entry holes (to prevent predator chew out). I designed one birdhouse in the traditional bluebird box style and the other in the angled Peterson style.
With them placed in close proximity to each other (reduces chance of tree swallows nesting because of territoriality issues), I hope to see if the birds prefer one design over the other. I’ve read that birds prefer the Peterson box, because it requires less nesting material because of the sloped bottom.
Aesthetically, I was careful to orient the wood so that the aged patina (nail holes, lichen, rot and all) would be highlighted. I even incorporated the broken and worn edges of the age old whitewashed boards into the design.
The Askenburgs at work at Sunny Meadow Farm over April vacation
I am really pleased and excited about the completed bluebird houses. Creating wild bird shelters out of discarded materials was a very rewarding project.
Also, having a small piece of my town’s history as a functioning part of my backyard birding experience makes the bluebird houses really special.
The Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship is an independent group of volunteers working with the Chelmsford Conservation Commission. It was established in November 2005, and the Stewards maintain and improve the trail systems within these open spaces – anything from picking up trash and keeping the trails free of fallen trees to replacing worn out bridges and kiosks.
Stewards provide a daily presence and ongoing maintenance so these special properties can be enjoyed by all. If you would like to learn more about the great work that Chelmsford’s Open Space Stewards are doing for our town, I encourage you to visit their website.
1 comment
Decorative Birdhouses says:
August 25, 2010 at 12:20 pm (UTC -5 )
Very creative. They have a nice look.