What are bird houses for
Its really in the name, as bird houses are made for allowing wild birds to nest or roost in a wooden box, come nesting season or wintertime.
What are bird houses for, is to allow real life birds to nest in the box, be creating their own nest using natural material within the box. It must be built in a specific way to attract any bird house nesting birds, with size, entry hole and style playing its part. Similarly, a bird house can by built by kids for decoration only.
Surely you can't think a bird house is for other than allowing a mix of common backyards birds to nest in.
Its really in the name, a bird house, meaning an house setup to allow wild birds, not pet birds - to nest in some spring, or roost in for the winter.
Design of bird house can be a simple box with a hole in it, as this box must cater to certain species, thus must be crafted in a specific way.
Not all birds will nest in a bird house within your yard, with the correct setup playing a major part.
Safely setup a bird house in your yard to attract birds to it, but you can also add a box in the woods to invite less common backyard birds.
Whilst bird houses are designed with a mix of wild birds in mind, confusing as it could be; there is such a thing as decorative bird houses only.
Often put together and painted by kids, this colorfully painted bird house would feature a perch, but are only designed to be screwed on to the bedroom wall.
Bird houses made for wild birds
Bird houses are generally made for use by wild birds. Its in the name, meaning bird house for birds to live in.
Bird houses made for wild birds can be in all shapes and sizes, have more of a rustic look or indeed appear to be more decorative.
Bird houses are for birds to nest in come spring and summer, before coming back later in the year to use this same bird house as a place to roost in the colder months.
What must really be made in wood only, bird houses really do provide a genuine purpose for wild life - with people setting up different style boxes to invite all types of bird species to use it.
Size of bird house can deter or invite birds, but so can the size of the bird house entry hole, cut into a rounded shape.
Designing a bird house must match bird house construction requirements, or else it risks the health and life of the occupants come nesting season.
So you see, bird houses are made to house wild birds, be it more common backyard birds - or those intended for birds of pray in the woods, or ducks around the pond.
Offers up an instant home
Bird houses are always handcrafted which are made in cedar wood, designed in a way that keeps the birds safe and warm, but offering up plenty of ventilation.
Its not a matter of mounting a bird house to a tree or wooden post, vital attributes of a bird house is must, or else birds simply won't use it.
Birds love an instant house setup, with dozens of species willing to move into a box they can call home.
For several weeks, parenting birds will occupy this space before the fledglings leave the box forever.
It can't be a house for wild birds unless its left alone, so whilst the bird house serves to assist birds in raising their young, they must be left to it.
Its more common for people to setup a birdhouse in their yards, while groups of conservationists build bird houses to sustain wild birds at risk of extinction, to which bird houses play a vital role.
Safely setup in yard
Bird houses, or at least those designed to be put up at home, are designed to be mounted to a safe spot in our yards.
To do that people will mount it to the side of the house, or indeed a structure in the yard.
Similarly, certain birds such as Bluebirds prefer a wooded space, thus to bury the bird house deep into trees or vegetation is a must... but it may not be used at all.
Setup in our yards can make or break what bird species decide to nest in the box, with no real guarantee the species it was intended for, will nest in it. Indeed, there's no guarantee birds will nest in a bird house at all.
But where birds come to nest in a bird house in spring, they can arrive back in autumn or winter to use this box again to roost.
Bird houses are for birds that use them, but how they are built can deter or invite them.
Finally, location of the bird house is a vital one, with wild birds preferring to occupy an environment similar to where they nest in the wild - which is usually a cavity in a tree.
Can be decorative only
Whilst bird houses serve to actually provide real life birds a place to nest in the safety of your yard, it can be for decorative purposes only.
Let me say a bird house with a perch serves to be decoration only, whilst not offering any practicality for the nesting birds - but more so a way for predators or pests to hold on to.
Bird houses for real life purposes, must be plain and simple, whilst finished in a theme that helps it blend in with the backyard environment.
Whereas a bird house on a tree is not painted at all, but allowed to weather naturally.
While bird houses are designed to be for outdoors, there's such a thing of indoor bird houses.
People often use these smaller, colorfully painted boxes as wall decoration.
It doesn't serve to keep actual wild birds in, so there's no using this decorated bird house for nesting birds later, if you change your mind.
Summarize
What are bird houses for, is to allow real life wild birds to nest within the carefully designed and constructed wooden box, to breed, and bring more birds into the world.
Bird houses really do serve a purpose, with a specifically designed bird house made to attract different species of birds.
No single bird house can invite all birds to nest in it, with said bird house must be made for the species its intended for.
Where the bird house is setup matters a lot, but facing north, north/east is a must with bird houses buried in a wooded area or up high on a wall.
Bird houses serve to create an instant home, in which wild birds love to take up.
Practical they must be over something more decorative, as a perch can assist predators, while a colorful box setup in the wrong environment can attract pests, including cats.
While bird houses allow wild birds to nest in them come nesting season, then there's bird houses made for indoor use only. Made to be wall decoration, painted or built by kids, but really isn't practical at all.