Spring in the making

A couple of years ago, I noticed that the sparrows and other small birds that stay over winter here, were ducking into the birdhouses for shelter from the wind and rain. We used to take the birdhouses down, but when I saw that the little guys were using them even in winter, we started leaving them up. We can clean them at this time of year and put them back up. 

Last fall I asked hubby to make some new ones. The others didn’t get a coat of paint or primer so they didn’t last. Hubby is the first to tell you that he’s not a handy man, but he did a fantastic job of these new houses. He primed them with a really solid primer then painted them with some left over house paint.

There are no perches this time, we finally figured out that the bigger birds will land on those and try to snatch the babies out of their homes when they peek out of the holes. The small birds don’t need a perch, they can cling on easily to the hole of the house to go in and out. Aren’t they sweet…

When I went to pick up the eggs one day from the farm we go to, the ladies there had a basket of these pretty pine cone roses. I asked if I could buy a few and she told me to take the whole basket, just enjoy them. I wanted to use them to trim the birdhouses and I’m pretty sure the birds will be picking at these to get seeds out of them, but in the meantime, they do make the houses look very decorative and inviting, at least I think so… ;o))  I can get more if the birds do pick them apart,  because they do fall from certain trees around here, but for now they are looking great.

I noticed in the last week or so, that the birds are starting to pick up bits of things and carrying them away, so first clue that they are getting ready to build their nests. Time to get the new houses hung up and waiting for tenants to move it. I hope the swallows will come back this year. They had a struggle getting ownership of one of the houses a couple of years ago, the sparrows are pretty aggressive, but here’s hoping they’ll try again.

The houses are hung around the gazebo with care, in hopes that the birdies will soon be living there…  A twist on the Christmas poem, but it works…