Songbird Nest Boxes

Explore the benefits of the biodiversity and the beauty of songbirds, bats, and owls with this handy guide. You'll learn about "win-win" ideas and methods for integrating nest boxes with vineyard management, biology and habitat requirements, details on construction and maintenance, literature sources, and online resources where you can get more information. While written with grape growers and vineyard managers in mind, anyone interested in learning about nest boxes will find this guide useful. Includes patterns for building your own boxes and advice on where to place your boxes for best results.

The Nestbox Book provides a practical and real way in which people can help Australian birds and animals in their own backyards. Nestboxes give species including native parrots, kookaburras, owls and sugar gliders an opportunity to breed and thrive that they might not otherwise have. Nestboxes are also great fun, and provide wonderful opportunities to learn about local Australian wildlife while watching birds and mammals breed and settle in to their new nestboxes. The Nestbox Book is a practical and informative book which guides you through the process of selecting, constructing, installing and maintaining a selection of nestboxes for a variety of native Australian birds and mammals. Gould Group publications and programs, such as The Nestbox Book, aim to share positive and practical messages that empower people to take real action to make a difference to their environment and to live more sustainably. These messages are vital at a time when environmental sustainability is the critical issue

"It's up to every single one of us to do our bit for wildlife, however small our gardens, and The Butterfly Brothers know just how that can be achieved." Alan Titchmarsh Join the rewilding movement and share your outdoor space with nature. We all have the potential to make the world a little greener. Wild Your Garden, written by Jim and Joel Ashton (aka "The Butterfly Brothers"), shows you how to create a garden that can help boost local biodiversity. Transform a paved-over yard into a lush oasis, create refuges to welcome and support native species, or turn a high-maintenance lawn into a nectar-rich mini-meadow to attract bees and butterflies. You don't need specialist knowledge or acres of land. If you have any outdoor space, you can make a difference to local wildlife, and reduce your carbon footprint, too. "Wildlife gardening is one of the most important things you can do as an individual for increasing biodiversity and mitigating the effects of climate change. From digging a pond to planting a native hedge, the Butterfly Brothers can help you every step of the way." Kate Bradbury

Produced in association with the National Audubon Society, Audubon Birdhouse Book explains how to build and place safe, species-appropriate bird homes for more than 20 classic North American species, from wrens to raptors. A visit to almost any home or garden center presents birders with numerous cute and colorful contraptions that are sold as bird homes. But the fact is, many of these products provide anything but a safe refuge for your feathered friends. Each of the easy-to-build boxes and shelves within is accompanied by cut lists, specially created line diagrams, and step-by-step photography, making the projects accessible to those with even the most rudimentary woodworking skills. In addition, this practical and beautifully presented guide is packed with color photography and profiles and range maps for the bird species covered—including titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, phoebes, swallows, waterfowl, and even kestrels and owls—to help the reader properly place and maintain the homes to attract birds. And because these projects are the product of years of experience and field-testing, you can be sure you’re getting the best advice regarding proper design, safe construction materials, and correct home placement to mitigate exposure to elements, pests, and predators. Finally, beyond the birdhouses, you’ll find out how you can contribute to the larger birding community and even enhance your birding experience with the aid of new technologies. Build an Audubon-approved home for these species: Bewick’s, Carolina, or House Wren; Prothonotary Warbler; Eastern, Western, or Mountain Bluebird; Ash-throated or Great Crested Flycatcher; Tree Swallow or Violet-green Swallow; Juniper, Oak, Black-crested, or Tufted Titmouse; Barred Owl; Eastern or Western Screech-owl; Barn Owl; Northern Flicker; American Kestrel; Black-capped, Carolina, or Mountain Chickadee; Wood Duck; Hooded Merganser; Purple Martin; Mourning Dove; Barn Swallow; American Robin; House Finch; and Eastern or Say’s Phoebe.

Much of Australia's wildlife will not survive without hollows for nesting. The complete practical guide with extensive plans. The book is ideal for your garden! With some basic carpentry skills you can build a nest box, and be rewarded by the pleasure of watching the activities of the wildlife that take up residence. Nest boxes are a great idea since they: attract wildlife back into gardens thereby introducing breeding and other enriching activities into our daily lives; may assist populations of endangered species; make an unusual gift for a nature loving friend; provide pleasure for nursing home residents; provide excellent school projects -- especially for woodwork classes. Stacey and Alan Franks have spent years researching the needs and habits of hollow-dependent fauna. The practical advice they give is based on personal observation and experience, as well as information they have gathered from other wildlife experts.

The Barefoot Beekeeper is a book about chemical-free beekeeping, showing how it can be made accessible for all including those with disabilities. No heavy lifting is required. The author advocates small-scale, low-impact beekeeping with minimal disturbance to the bees and more time spent observing and learning from them. He shows how to make everything you need to keep bees yourself using recycled materials and simple tools.

A beautiful, inspiring and heartwarming book about our human relationships with the birds who share our backyards. 'Do you ever wonder what birds are talking about as they fly by you? The sounds and songs of birds constantly surround us as we go about our lives. But what are they talking about? Or are they even talking or just mindlessly squawking and chirping? Why are so many urban birds so loud? Is there a message in what the birds are telling each other?' Observing and interacting with all the different birds who visit Australian backyards leads naturally to questions about their behaviours, habits and needs. Why are they visiting? What do they want from us? For a bird, life in Australia means having mates: others who you can trust and work with to locate food and water, which can disappear as suddenly as it appears. As the humans who plant the gardens they live in and visit, what can we learn from Australia's often-cheeky birds? With a foreword by science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams AM, and chapters dedicated to discovering extraordinary information about Australia's innovative birds, Your Backyard Birds is a delightful and compelling read. With real stories from bird-loving citizen scientists, this fascinating book features new insights about the lives of our avian friends. Your Backyard Birds, written by a wildlife ecologist who is passionate about the vital role of citizen scientists, provides a fresh and lively perspective on human interaction with birds.

This report on songbird nest boxes is provided as Section 5.1 .8 of the US Army Corps of Engineers Wildlife Resources Management Manual. It was prepared as a guide to assist project biologists in developing and implementing nest box programs for nongame birds. Topics covered include wildlife value, management objectives, design, construction, installation, placement, maintenance, evaluation, personnel and costs, and cautions and limitations. Loss of natural tree cavities has limited the availability of suitable nest sites for many wildlife species in North America. Nest box programs have been effective in restoring and maintaining populations of cavity-nesting songbirds, the most notable example being the eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis). A variety of nest box designs are presented in this report, but the bluebird box is emphasized because its dimensions can be readily adapted to other cavity nesters. Detailed specifications are given for this standard box and for specialized boxes such as purple martin (Progne subis) houses. Appropriate management objectives are discussed, and guidelines are provided for the construction, installation, and location of nest boxes with emphasis on placement in suitable habitat. Monitoring and maintenance procedures are described, and the criteria for evaluating box use and nest success are discussed. (fr).

In this nonfiction picture book for young readers, we learn just why the mother nesting bird stays quiet and still while sitting on her eggs. Shh. . . .