Saturday, June 12, 2010

Bluebird Lab 2010

I wish I could say I took this photo but I didn't.
I found it on someone's blog. It gave me hope. I really wanted to focus on bluebirds this year and making a gourd birdhouse is an easy "kid friendly" project. Making the traditional wooden bluebird house would have been too expensive and difficult with young children. I was ecstatic when I found out that it can be done! Last year we made gourd nests for the Carolina Wren and I know where to find the gourds for a good price.

First, we painted the gourds white and drilled a hole in them for the bird to get inside.Bluebirds are picky. The holes have to be 1.5 inches wide and at least 4-5 inches from the bottom of the gourd. White is a good color for bluebirds. It keeps the nest cooler. We dug out the seeds from inside the gourds and drilled small holes in the bottom to let the rain out. We have a lot of bluebirds on our farm and hopefully one will use the nest soon. I hung the nests at least 4 feet from the ground on the edge of a tree in a wide open space. Bluebirds like wide open fields. You won't find them flying in the woods. They are heavy feeders and need the open fields to catch bugs.

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