Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted a photo and a short video of (a first-time) male Cardinal visiting our window-hung bird feeder box that had been up for more than four months.  In that post, I mentioned that I was a skeptic of window-hung feeders and nesting boxes, but now my own eyes have shown me that - in the right conditions - a bird will perch on something right outside your windows.  It also had me wondering if one of those window-hung nesting boxes (where you can *see* the nest and eggs from the inside of the house) would actually work.  I'm still not sure that they're viable (based on the Amazon reviews), but going down that path also had me nose around for plans for nesting boxes and platforms. After all, we're a Certified Wildlife Habitat and that comes with a requirement of providing shelter and places to raise young.  To that end, a couple of Summers ago, we built a bird nesting shelf and hung it in the back of the yard .  It hasn't gotten much attention/action, but i

I posted back in August how a bird's nest had fallen from one of our big Oak trees down to the yard and how the kids were fascinated by it.  I read up a bit and figured out that we could build a nesting platform for both the replacing of *this* nest and hopefully the usage of other birds (Robins?) next season.  I found these easy plans for a nesting platform/shelf here .    I had 1/2" plywood on hand, so I decided to use that.  I know that Cedar would be better, but I had the plywood on hand.  I made the cuts, assembled the thing and even tweaked it a bit.  I added a series of drainage holes to the bottom of the platform and to the bottom/sides of the walls.  Figured for both drainage and airflow.  After I built it, I had the Bird paint it.  You can kind of see that she used some metallic paints on the back/sides of it.  After I asked her if she wanted to finish it, she insisted that it was done.   So, I put down a few coats of spray-on clear coat to both protect her p