Houses for Red-Headed Woodpeckers, Bluebirds, Robins, and Sparrows

Looking for ideas for mounting a red-headed woodpecker box Steven and  I made, I took a close look at one of my bluebird houses and saw pine needles leaking out of the bottom, a sure sign that the house sparrows who had moved in days ago were building a nest.

And a close look at my robin ledge, mounted on a 10-foot high PVC pipe just as I planned for the woodpecker box, showed droppings that revealed the ledge is being used for roosting this winter.  I don't know if was the cardinals that seem to live in the Colorado spruce trees surrounding the ledge or the tree sparrows or house sparrows that fly out of our hedges when I walk by.  I had never seen any activity there so I didn't know it was being used.

It pays to take a closer look!

I learned a lot--including how to mount the red-headed woodpecker box and quickly got it up without falling from the ladder.

My bluebird house in Maryland only attracted house sparrows.  The baby peeking out must be a baby house sparrow.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I haven't seen my red-headed woodpecker for a while in my front yard in Ohio.  The first bird house I built in Ohio is for this bird, which is being overtaken by a scarcity of cavities and the success of my favorite bird, the red-bellied woodpecker.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Red-Winged Blackbirds Have Their Songs Down, But Not All Have Their Colors

The red-winged blackbird has the right colors to get the girls.  I photographed him, along with a starling (middle) and a blackbird I can't identify from the photo, on March 21, 2013 in the same maple tree where I saw a similar male today, next to a weaker colored male red-winged blackbird.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Well, the red-winged blackbirds are not only serenading me from a maple tree in my yard, above a platform feeder, but one of them has developed the deep red and strong yellow on his wing patch that assures him of getting the girls' attention.  The girls should all be here by March 9.

One of the two birds had no red and only a thin line of weak yellow.  I could identify with the fellow, remembering my high school days and how I felt comparing myself with the Big Men on Campus who had all the masculine qualities to attract the girls, down to five-o'clock shadow on their faces!

I bought a platform feeder that I placed on the ground near my robin's favorite feeding grounds and he's been using it, until some culprit--probably a raccoon--tipped it upside down.  I had placed it on concrete blocks, so tonight I placed it directly on the ground and will re-fill it tomorrow, when the raccoons are sleeping.

My neighbor's son, Steven, and I just about finished a red-headed woodpecker house for my yard tonight.  Now I just have to figure how to get it 12 feet off the ground--a little easier than the 20 feet goal for the pileated woodpecker house we built earlier and placed in a tree in his yard, temporarily only about 10 feet off the ground.

I'm looking forward to building bluebird houses--at 4 to 6 feet high, these feeders can easily be mounted on fence anchor posts, with no harm to me or trees!

If I can get us registered on time, Steven and I will go to Lowe's free birdhouse building workshop birdhouse building this Saturday and come away with a free Lowe's apron, a certificate and badge for birdhouse building, maybe some more skills--and definitely another birdhouse.

Maybe we'll even build legs for my robin's ground feeder!