Making Nesting Platform

I've made regular and triangular birdhouses and they have both been used for several broods each season. This year I want to add some nesting platforms.

I read in my trusty Audubon bird book that Robins, Blue Jays and Mourning Doves can be convinced to use nesting platforms.

I was procrastinating doing some epoxy work on my Scamp so I made a couple of nesting boxes.

I hope to attract any of these birds to my nesting box.

Apparently they will all nest in open boxes. I think that the boxes I made might be too small for the mourning doves. We'll see.

I had some very poor lumber, very knotty pine with lots of flaws but I was able to cut around the worst and make a couple of boxes. The lumber was 5.5 inches wide. I suppose nominal 6 inches.

All my angled cuts were made on the chop saw. It's all a bit inaccurate but the pieces mostly came together. They are glued with waterproof glue and then screwed.

The piece I used for the roof was too narrow so I glued a slight extention so that rain would not come in.

I drilled a few holes in the bottom to act as drainage holes. I don't know if it's really necessary but it can't hurt.

I'm not planning to put any finish on the nesting box but I roughly sanded them so there is no splinters or really sharp edge.

I'll have to find some spots that squirrels can't get to. I think under the eaves or against a wall.

I was scouting for a good location and I noticed one of the bird houses already has a little face peeking out of it. It's awfully early to start. It snowed today.

I could not make out what kind of bird it was. There are an awful lot of plain little brown birds around.

During the early winter I noticed that one of the downy woodpecker had moved in one of the boxes to sleep at night. I guess the bird houses are not just used to lay eggs.

I made other kinds of birdhouse

Here are the build photos for the Triangular Shaped houses. Here is a link to the regular rectangular boxes.

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