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Recommendations for making artificial nests. Artificial nesting for birds Types of artificial nesting for birds

Artificial nesting box for birds- an artificial structure designed to accommodate bird nests.

Purpose

Artificial nesting boxes for birds can be installed for several purposes:

Attracting birds to observe their nesting for research purposes or just for fun;
Supporting populations of more or less rare bird species in conditions of a lack of natural nesting sites;
Attracting birds to destroy agricultural pests.
Fostering a love of nature and work in children.

Closed nesting sites

Artificial nesting sites are divided into open And closed. Closed nest boxes are made in the form of wooden houses (boxes) and are usually intended for birds nesting in hollows. In ornithologist's jargon, the work of installing closed nest boxes is sometimes called nestboxing(from English Nest Box) .

Birdhouses and titmice

Most popular among fans birdhouses And titmice- artificial nesting sites for small birds, mainly nesting in hollows. They are traditionally made in the form of wooden houses with a round or rectangular entrance. Birdhouses and titmice are often made by amateurs and are located in urban areas. During Soviet times, there was a practice of involving schoolchildren in making birdhouses during labor lessons.

A variant of the birdhouse or titmouse is also nest box- a nesting box in the form of a piece of tree trunk with a hollowed out core, closed at the top and bottom with a bird hole in the wall.

Owl nests

Such nesting sites are installed to support owl populations. It should be noted that the work of checking owls is associated with a certain risk, since owls near nests often behave very aggressively and can attack a person climbing the nesting tree or even just approaching it, and can cause injury. Therefore, when checking owls, protective equipment is used.

Efforts have been made to create a web GIS for monitoring artificial closed nesting sites for birds of prey.

Nests for small falcons

Nesting boxes for ducks

Dimensions for different bird species

Dimensions of artificial bird housing with a round entrance - classic case (image 1)
Inhabits	Taphole size	Bottom size	Front wall height	Rear wall height
	A	B	C	D
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Wingtail, White-necked Flycatcher, Lesser Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Common Pika, Short-toed Pika, Redstart, Great Tit, Brown-headed Chickadee, Tufted Tit, Blue Tit, Copper, Tree Sparrow, Sparrow	2.8-3.5. Approximately 2 cm from the top of the roof	13	25	27
Hoopoe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Medium Spotted Woodpecker, Common Nuthatch, Wingtail, White-necked Flycatcher, Lesser Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Common Pika, Short-toed Pika, Common Redstart, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Cossack, with quarrel, sparrow, house sparrow	5-5.5. Approximately 3-4 cm from the top of the roof	15	35	38
Hoopoe, Black Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Gogol, Clintuh, Jackdaw, Roller, Nuthatch, Redstart, Kestrel, Starling	8-8.5. Approximately 6 cm from the top of the roof	19	45	48
Jackdaw (newly recommended sizes)	10-12. Approximately 6 cm from the top of the roof	25	77	80
Common goldeneye, Mallard, Great merganser, Great gray owl, kestrel, Long-eared owl	12-15. Approximately 10 cm from the top of the roof	30	55	60

Dimensions of artificial bird housing with an open window (image 2)
Inhabits	Entry height	Bottom size	Front wall height	Rear wall height
	A	B	C	D
Redstart, Flycatcher, Wagtail, Robin	5	12 x 12	5	16
Kestrel (Do not cut sides and roof slope)	16	23 x 40	14	30

Open nesting sites

Open nesting boxes are platforms installed on trees or poles in conditions where nesting trees are scarce and are intended for birds that nest in open nests (mainly raptors). A lot of work on studying methods for building nests was carried out by Ivanovsky, Vladimir Valentinovich in the 80s.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing an artificial nesting site for birds

The so-called partisan war began with the enemy’s entry into Smolensk.
Before guerrilla warfare was officially accepted by our government, thousands of people of the enemy army - backward marauders, foragers - were exterminated by the Cossacks and peasants, who beat these people as unconsciously as dogs unconsciously kill a runaway rabid dog. Denis Davydov, with his Russian instinct, was the first to understand the meaning of that terrible club, which, without asking the rules of military art, destroyed the French, and he is credited with taking the first step to legitimize this method of war.
On August 24, Davydov’s first partisan detachment was established, and after his detachment others began to be established. The further the campaign progressed, the more the number of these detachments increased.
The partisans destroyed the Great Army piece by piece. They picked up those fallen leaves that fell of their own accord from the withered tree - the French army, and sometimes shook this tree. In October, while the French were fleeing to Smolensk, there were hundreds of these parties of various sizes and characters. There were parties that adopted all the techniques of the army, with infantry, artillery, headquarters, and the comforts of life; there were only Cossacks and cavalry; there were small ones, prefabricated ones, on foot and on horseback, there were peasant and landowner ones, unknown to anyone. There was a sexton as the head of the party, who took several hundred prisoners a month. There was the elder Vasilisa, who killed hundreds of French.
The last days of October were the height of the partisan war. That first period of this war, during which the partisans, themselves surprised at their audacity, were afraid at every moment of being caught and surrounded by the French and, without unsaddled or almost getting off their horses, hid in the forests, expecting a pursuit at every moment, has already passed. Now this war had already been defined, it became clear to everyone what could be done with the French and what could not be done. Now only those detachment commanders who, with their headquarters, according to the rules, walked away from the French, considered many things impossible. The small partisans, who had long since begun their work and were closely looking out for the French, considered it possible what the leaders of large detachments did not dare to think about. The Cossacks and men who climbed among the French believed that now everything was possible.
On October 22, Denisov, who was one of the partisans, was with his party in the midst of partisan passion. In the morning he and his party were on the move. All day long, through the forests adjacent to the high road, he followed a large French transport of cavalry equipment and Russian prisoners, separated from other troops and under strong cover, as was known from spies and prisoners, heading towards Smolensk. This transport was known not only to Denisov and Dolokhov (also a partisan with a small party), who walked close to Denisov, but also to the commanders of large detachments with headquarters: everyone knew about this transport and, as Denisov said, sharpened their teeth on it. Two of these large detachment leaders - one Pole, the other German - almost at the same time sent Denisov an invitation to each join his own detachment in order to attack the transport.
“No, bg”at, I’m with a mustache myself,” said Denisov, having read these papers, and wrote to the German that, despite the spiritual desire that he had to serve under the command of such a valiant and famous general, he must deprive himself of this happiness, because he had already entered under the command of a Pole general. He wrote the same thing to the Pole general, notifying him that he had already entered under the command of a German.
Having ordered this, Denisov intended, without reporting this to the highest commanders, together with Dolokhov, to attack and take this transport with his own small forces. The transport went on October 22 from the village of Mikulina to the village of Shamsheva. On the left side of the road from Mikulin to Shamshev there were large forests, in some places approaching the road itself, in others a mile or more away from the road. Through these forests all day long, now going deeper into the middle of them, now going to the edge, he rode with Denisov’s party, not letting the moving French out of sight. In the morning, not far from Mikulin, where the forest came close to the road, Cossacks from Denisov’s party captured two French wagons with cavalry saddles that had become dirty in the mud and took them into the forest. From then until the evening, the party, without attacking, followed the movement of the French. It was necessary, without frightening them, to let them calmly reach Shamshev and then, uniting with Dolokhov, who was supposed to arrive in the evening for a meeting at the guardhouse in the forest (a mile from Shamshev), at dawn, fall from both sides out of the blue and beat and take everyone at once.
Behind, two miles from Mikulin, where the forest approached the road itself, six Cossacks were left, who were supposed to report as soon as new French columns appeared.
Ahead of Shamsheva, in the same way, Dolokhov had to explore the road in order to know at what distance there were still other French troops. One thousand five hundred people were expected to be transported. Denisov had two hundred people, Dolokhov could have had the same number. But superior numbers did not stop Denisov. The only thing he still needed to know was what exactly these troops were; and for this purpose Denisov needed to take a tongue (that is, a man from the enemy column). In the morning attack on the wagons, the matter was done with such haste that the French who were with the wagons were killed and captured alive only by the drummer boy, who was retarded and could not say anything positive about the kind of troops in the column.
Denisov considered it dangerous to attack another time, so as not to alarm the entire column, and therefore he sent forward to Shamshevo the peasant Tikhon Shcherbaty, who was with his party, to capture, if possible, at least one of the French advanced quarterers who were there.

It was an autumn, warm, rainy day. The sky and horizon were the same color of muddy water. It seemed like fog fell, then suddenly it began to rain heavily.
Denisov rode on a thoroughbred, thin horse with toned sides, wearing a cloak and a hat with water flowing from it. He, like his horse, who was squinting his head and pinching his ears, was wincing from the slanting rain and looking ahead anxiously. His face, emaciated and overgrown with a thick, short, black beard, seemed angry.
Next to Denisov, also in a burka and papakha, on a well-fed, large bottom, rode a Cossack esaul - an employee of Denisov.
Esaul Lovaisky - the third, also in a burka and papakha, was a long, flat, board-like, white-faced, blond man, with narrow light eyes and a calmly smug expression both in his face and in his stance. Although it was impossible to say what was special about the horse and the rider, at the first glance at the esaul and Denisov it was clear that Denisov was both wet and awkward - that Denisov was the man who sat on the horse; whereas, looking at the esaul, it was clear that he was as comfortable and calm as always, and that he was not a man who sat on a horse, but man and horse together were one creature, increased by double strength.
A little ahead of them walked a thoroughly wet little peasant conductor, in a gray caftan and a white cap.
A little behind, on a thin, thin Kyrgyz horse with a huge tail and mane and with bloody lips, rode a young officer in a blue French overcoat.
A hussar rode next to him, carrying behind him on the back of his horse a boy in a tattered French uniform and a blue cap. The boy held the hussar with his hands, red from the cold, moved his bare feet, trying to warm them, and, raising his eyebrows, looked around him in surprise. It was the French drummer taken in the morning.

The first week of April traditionally “belongs” to the birds. At this time, foresters, gardeners, schoolchildren and students hang out artificial dwellings prepared for birds - birdhouses and titmouses.

The first “Bird Day” was held in our country in 1925 on the initiative of the Biological Station for Young Naturalists named after. K.A. Timiryazev in Sokolniki (Moscow). The purpose of this action was not only the “biological protection” of green spaces from pests. An equally important task even then was considered to be the revitalization of city parks and squares by attracting a variety of songbirds there. At the same time, educational goals were also pursued. Typically, Bird Day was held during the first week of April and was accompanied by school conferences and competitions, the preparation of exhibitions and the design of wall newspapers on ornithological topics. The tradition of holding “Bird Day” has survived to this day and forms a significant part of the environmental and educational work carried out by schools. In addition, various institutions interested in nature conservation and the ecological well-being of our habitat are currently participating in the Bird Day.

The use of artificial nesting boxes to attract birds has a long history. According to research by G.P. Dementyev, the first birdhouses in Russia appeared several centuries ago. Specimens of birdhouses made by Vologda peasants at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries have been preserved. (Fig. 1). P.S. Pallas in his “Zoography” (1811) writes about the custom of Russian peasants hanging birdhouses as a widespread phenomenon.

In the middle of the 19th century. German zoologist Gloger was one of the first to propose using a birdhouse as a means of protecting and attracting birds in European countries. At the same time, there is evidence that the first birdhouses in Europe began to be made back in the 16th century. At the same time, not only practical (at this time the benefits brought by starlings as exterminators of harmful insects) were already known, but also aesthetic and religious-cult goals.

In the middle and second half of the 20th century. Hanging bird houses in order to attract birds and increase their numbers, primarily in areas of mass breeding of pests and in human settlements, has become particularly widespread.

To make artificial nests, you can use various materials: cement, clay, scraps of asbestos pipes, etc. However, the traditional and best materials remain boards, planks and tree trunks with a drilled core.

The thickness of the boards for making bird houses should be at least 1.5, and preferably 2.5 cm. The outside of the boards should be planed, but their inner surface should be left unplaned and rough. The general plan for sawing and assembling artificial nests is shown in Fig. 2 and 3.

Rice. 2. Making a titmouse with an internal size of 10 x 10 cm from planks of different widths (top view): A– “ordinary” pinning; b– with an angular cut tap hole; V– from planks of the same width; G– nailing with folding

Rice. 3. Making a birdhouse. Legend:
A – external length and width of the house; a – length and width of the bottom;
B – external height of the house; b – distance from the bottom to the lid;
B – width and D – length of the cover; t – thickness of material (boards); l – tap hole diameter

The lid of the birdhouse should be made inclined in one direction, which will ensure the drainage of rainwater. It is not worth making a gable roof - firstly, it complicates the manufacture of the birdhouse itself, and secondly, it is much more difficult to make a gable roof removable. Meanwhile, the ability to remove the lid and remove nesting debris once a year is a necessary condition for regularly populating the birdhouse.

To nail together boards, it is better to use nails 5–7 cm long. You need to assemble the house in such a way as not to leave gaps, the presence of which many birds cannot stand. If cracks still remain, they are coated with clay or covered with wood chips, nailed with small nails.

It is better to insert the bottom inside and nail it through the walls, and not from below - otherwise it will quickly fall off. The gaps between the bottom and the side walls, if they remain, are plugged with tow, cotton wool or rags, and a certain amount of sawdust is poured onto the bottom of the birdhouse. A plank is nailed to the back wall of the house, with which the nesting box is nailed to the tree or tied with aluminum wire. The outside of the birdhouse is painted with soft oil paint, which significantly extends its service life.

In front of the entrance, you should not stuff any slats or “porchs,” much less thin poles. However, it is useful to nail a small branch on the side of the birdhouse, rising above the roof, for landing birds.

According to established tradition, in nesting boxes intended for starlings, the entrance is made round and drilled at the very top of the front wall, and in titmouses it is square and sawed in the upper right or left corner.

It should be noted that with all the variety of artificial nesting sites, the two main and most common types remain precisely these two types: the “titmouse” and the larger one, the “birdhouse”. Of course, not only starlings and tits settle in them, but also other hollow nesters, which these houses suit in size.

However, it is possible to build houses of even larger or, conversely, smaller sizes. In table Table 1 shows the sizes of artificial nesting boxes recommended for different species of birds (according to K.N. Blagoslonov).

A special type of artificial nesting site is nesting boxes. They can be with an attached bottom or hollowed out. In places where foresters cut down hollow trees, hollow sections of suitable height are cut from fallen trunks, with a tap hole drilled into the side in the upper part. Then an attached bottom is nailed from below, and a removable lid is made from above.

It is much more difficult to make a hollow from a split log, hollowing out the contour of the hollow from its two halves and then tying them with wire. A simplified technology for making nest boxes was proposed by V. Strokov. He recommends cutting out the core of a block of wood split into four parts, and then putting the remaining parts back together and fastening them with wire and nails. The internal dimensions of the nests are indicated in the table. 2.

It should be noted that nest boxes are no better than nesting boxes made from boards, and making them in a school workshop is more difficult. The only advantage is that in the first year, nest boxes are populated better than box nests, since fresh wood scares away some birds. In order to avoid this, ornithologists suggest rubbing freshly made nest boxes with clay or earth.

Some general recommendations for hanging artificial nest boxes. In the forest, it is better to place them along clearings, roads or paths, but at some distance. It must be remembered that starlings prefer to settle on the edges of the forest and therefore an exception must be made for them. It is advisable to hang birdhouses tilted forward - this will make it easier for the chicks to climb out. It is better to place nesting areas on the main tree trunks and in those areas of the crown where there are no branches. In crowded places, nesting boxes should be hung higher: in a secluded place, tits can nest at a height of 3 m from the ground, while in open places, houses for them should be located at a height of 4–6 m. However, a titmouse located above 8 m, even in a city park will be inhabited only by sparrows and pied flycatchers.

Nests for goldeneyes are hung near ponds on tall trees, nests for jackdaws and owls, kestrels, owls - high in trees or on brick buildings.

Depending on the biotope and the nature of the area, a certain density and ratio of different types of nesting sites must be observed. So, in a garden, titmouses should make up 3/4 of the total number of nesting sites, and in a village with sparse trees near fields and vegetable gardens, on the edge, on the contrary, birdhouses should predominate.

In a mixed forest, with a density of 10 titmice per 1 ha and a hanging height of 3–8 m, one can expect active colonization of nesting areas by pied flycatchers, great tits, blue tits, chickadees and grenadiers. In young deciduous and mixed forests, with a density of 2–3 titmouse per 1 ha and a hanging height of 4–8 m, you can count on mass nesting of pied flycatchers. In a clean forest without undergrowth, with a density of 5–10 titmice per 1 ha and a hanging height of 4–8 m, nesting of pied flycatchers, great tits, nuthatches, chickadees and grenadiers can be expected. In an old orchard, with a density of up to 20 titmice per 1 hectare and a hanging height of 2–6 m, pied flycatchers, great tits, redstarts, and tree sparrows will nest in large numbers.

In rural villages, on the outskirts of small towns, on individual trees near fields and vegetable gardens at a density of 2–5 titmice per hectare and a hanging height of 4–8 m, mainly tree and house sparrows will nest. In large city parks without undergrowth, with a density of 3–5 titmice per 1 ha and a hanging height of 5–8 m, pied flycatchers, redstarts, field sparrows and house sparrows will nest. And finally, on city boulevards and squares with a density of 2–3 titmouse per 1 hectare and a hanging height of 5–8 m, mainly house sparrows will settle, although small numbers can also be expected to populate the houses with pied flycatchers, redstarts and tree sparrows .

When holding Bird Day during the spring school holidays, approximately from the end of March to the beginning of April, it is necessary to organize the hanging of nesting boxes at this time. The latest dates for hanging are allowed until mid-April, but for birdhouses - until the end of March. By hanging nest boxes in May, you can still attract late-arriving pied flycatchers. Nesting boxes hung in the fall attract tits, which spend the night in them in winter and remain for nesting in the spring.

And one more important rule. Schools that organize the hanging of birdhouses in large numbers must keep regular records of the birds settling in them - taking into account the size of the house, the location and height of the hanging, and the nature of the surrounding area. In addition to the fact that this is a good basis for extracurricular work and environmental education, the material collected from year to year will be of great value for the school museum and biology classroom, and in the end, ornithologists will also be able to use it.

I would like to immediately note that making a wooden nesting box yourself is much easier than making a nest box. But when choosing a place for breeding, most birds will probably prefer a nest box to a wooden titmouse or birdhouse, simply because the first

1- More similar to a woodpecker’s hollow, where birds are accustomed to nest
2- The bottom area, with the same external dimensions, is larger for the nest
3- Heat loss in a cylindrical nesting box will be significantly less
4- Such nesting is less noticeable in the tree and in the forest, which will help in protection from predators

The fifth “pro” when choosing a bird house design is the fact that when you find a tree suitable for this purpose, you can make a large number of nest boxes from it, spending minimal money on materials. After all, if you do everything as described below, you will only have to buy screws, and small scraps (20-25 cm long) of slabs and wide boards can always be found at your summer cottage or asked from neighbors who are building a house for themselves.

Now, having “persuaded” you to make a nest box rather than a plank nest, let’s get down to business. The first and most difficult thing in this matter is to find a suitable tree for our purposes. Aspen is most suitable for the base of a nest box, so all other things being equal, to find a tree, it is better to go to an old aspen grove. Aspen often rots from the inside and, unlike birch, a thick layer of wood near the bark remains intact. Among the fallen old aspens, you need to find a tree with rotten, rotten wood, and it is not necessary that there is a void in the middle. It is enough that its inner part is softer than that near the bark. To do this, you have to, armed with a saw, cut the trunks of different trees several times in order to find the right one. Rotten wood is always darker and more pliable than dry and intact wood ( photo 1), and therefore sometimes you can cut through half the trunk and be sure that you have found the right tree. After cutting, you need to make sure that the core is rotten and, having measured out a small section of the trunk, saw it off on the other side. It doesn’t matter if the outside of the trunk looks unsightly due to damp and dirty bark.

The main thing is that the bark of the wood is not rotten. The diameter of the trunk without bark should be within: for titmouse - 15-22 cm. For a birdhouse – 22-30 cm.

It is better to immediately clear the trunk of bark. The weight will immediately decrease and, if you let it dry, you won’t get dirty on the trunk. Further, all work with the workpiece is best done in the workshop, on a workbench. The author also made nesting boxes in the forest to hang them right there, but considers this inappropriate. Due to the lack of electricity in “field conditions”, all work can be done with hand tools or a cordless drill; besides, working on the ground is very inconvenient. In general, we take the workpiece to a summer cottage or to a village farmstead so that, on rainy days, when walking and bird watching is problematic, we can do some useful work.

The workpiece should be divided into parts to make more than one house. The height of the titmouse can be from 20 to 40 cm, but the most optimal is 25 cm (for a birdhouse 30 cm, but up to 45 cm is possible). This is to make it convenient to choose rotten wood - the lower the height of the nesting site, the more convenient. It is advisable to immediately think about where the taphole will be located and, if there is a rotten knot in the trunk, then it is better to place the taphole there. It is better to saw off: the roof - at a slight slope from the tap hole, the bottom - perpendicular to the fibers (exactly). Having cut a section of the trunk into pieces of the required height and size, we begin to select the rotten core with a chisel.

If the core of the trunk is soft, then you can often select it with one chisel, prying and breaking the rotten fibers. The main thing is to dig a through hole in the center of the barrel, working from one side or the other of the workpiece, after which the work will become easier. (photo 3)

At the edge, the core is harder, so when breaking off chips with a chisel, you have to help with a mallet or hammer. If there is already a through hole, then whole fibers will be easily separated. They should be broken inside the trunk. (photo 4)

As a rule, rotted wood does not end close enough to the edge (outside) of the trunk, but if the inside of the trunk is cleared of rot, then it is not difficult to select fibers along the entire length along the trunk to the desired wall thickness. It is advisable to maintain a round bottom area. Ideally, the thickness of the walls of the nesting box for a titmouse is 1.5-2 cm (for a birdhouse - 2-3 cm). The thicker the walls, the longer the nesting box will last, but it will be heavier. In addition, the internal diameter of the nest greatly affects the occupancy of nesting sites by birds. The internal diameter of the titmouse should be 10-16 cm, the birdhouse - 15-20 cm.

The next stage is drilling the tap hole. The easiest way to make a taphole is with a wood crown of a suitable size and a drill. (photo 6) But if there is no crown, the entrances need to be marked, for a titmouse - 3-3.5 cm (for a birdhouse - 5 cm). And then drill along the diameter of the marked circle of holes with the largest possible drill and knock out the tap hole with a chisel. In this case, it is better to process the edges with a round file.

We secure the bottom with self-tapping screws (black countersunk wood screws 60-80 mm long work well). A piece of board 1.5-2 cm thick will do, or at least a piece of ten-layer plywood (in any case, avoid chipboard, it will crumble from dampness in the first year). Once the piece is secured, you should cut off the parts that protrude beyond the walls.

But first, before fastening with self-tapping screws, you need to drill holes in the cover that are slightly thicker than the selected screws, so that the board does not crack and so that later you can easily unscrew the screws by hand. (photo 9)
Children's plasticine is now inexpensive; it is convenient to use for caulking cracks between the walls and bottom, as well as the walls and the lid, when the cracks are too wide.

Plasticine, window putty, garden tree varnish or other plastic material should be used to cover the areas of rotten knots on the nest box body.

Photo 11
This must be done in order to protect the nesting site from “vandalism” by woodpeckers. The latter are the most malicious destroyers of bird houses. Woodpeckers often try to reach songbird chicks by punching holes at the base of the nesting area. This occurs in cold, wet years when woodpeckers cannot find enough food to feed their chicks in the spring and summer. Sometimes this happens for some unknown reason, as for example does Zhelna. The bird, with its powerful beak, destroys an old birdhouse for fun.

Or there was another case when, for some completely unknown reason, one large spotted woodpecker made in a large birdhouse (it was located in the garden plot) besides one, three more equally round, ideal entrances - at different heights and sides of the nesting area. (photo 13)

In the forest, the nesting site “lives its own life” and can be destroyed or damaged by many circumstances. The most common change in nesting sites placed far from human habitation again concerns the intervention of woodpeckers. The Great Spotted Woodpecker “modernizes” what it considers convenient nesting sites by expanding the entrance. After this, he uses the nesting site as a sleeping hole. One day, a marten widened the entrance of a birdhouse with her teeth; she climbed inside and took out the downy nuthatch chicks, and left her teeth marks on the entrance outside. Sometimes the nest box is occupied by bees, but in the author’s practice this only concerned large-sized nest boxes. The bees seal a large entrance with wax, leaving a small hole into which only an insect can fly. When wasps settle in bird nests, they do not change the entrance. They hang their paper honeycombs on the lid of the nesting box, but it is better for a person not to go into that house until the cold weather sets in. Owl nests and birdhouses can be occupied by squirrels, which are also enemies of hollow nesters during the nesting period. In the author’s practice, a squirrel that settled in one of the owl nests was caught by a marten in winter. The predator left part of the prey uneaten in the same nesting area. In winter, one of the birdhouses, hung in the floodplain of the Dubna River, was used as a storage room by an owl. Sychik did not use these reserves during the winter and therefore in the spring, when the author checked the nesting sites, there was a whole bunch of decomposed mice and voles. Well, these are all stories about nest boxes hanging in deserted places. They had to be hung there to attract rare species of birds, such as blue tit, tufted tit, and little flycatcher. If you hang a titmouse near a village, cottage or city, then it is more likely to be inhabited by a great tit.

This urbanized and numerous species has the opportunity to take over a nesting site before our migrants arrive. As a rule, tits occupy the best nesting sites. At the end of May, the chicks already fly out of them. Tits can have up to 12 chicks in a brood; when the chicks grow up, they barely fit in the nest box before flying.

Then the tits can begin the second clutch, but sometimes after them the pied flycatcher populates the “second echelon”. (photo 16) The latter is the second most numerous bird, which most often inhabits nest boxes in the middle zone. The density of pied nesting can be mind-boggling; it seems that it is stopped only by the lack of suitable places for breeding chicks.

Much less frequently than the named species, tree sparrows, garden redstarts, and blue tits can populate artificial nesting boxes near the house.

Larger nesting sites and birdhouses will be populated first by starlings. The males will sing selflessly near the nest boxes from mid-April. And at the end of May, starlings are already feeding the fledglings. Starlings will no longer appear at their nesting sites; huge flocks of these birds roam through fields and meadows, hayfields and pastures. If there are a lot of birdhouses near your house (“a lot” is at least 5-6, and not a hundred, as you might think), they are hung high from the ground and the tree branches are not very close to the entrance, then there is a very high chance that the nest boxes are not will stand empty for the summer following spring. They can easily be chosen by swifts. It is not at all easy to see a swift flying into a nest - it flies into the house too quickly. But if a flock of swifts flies over your house all day long with piercing cries, it means that a colony of these birds has chosen your nesting sites. Black swifts begin laying eggs in June and incubate for about 20 days, but the chicks sit in the nests for more than a month. In the Moscow region, when the summer is cold with prolonged bad weather, chicks can leave the nests in early August. And their departure at the end of July is normal.

The species composition of birds, if the nesting sites are placed further away from human habitation, will be more diverse, but the first in number will still be great tits and pieds. Both of these species can occupy both titmouses and birdhouses. But tracing the fate of even a common species of our birds is always interesting for a true amateur. After all, when a whole bird family lives side by side with you, you become an involuntary witness to tender scenes and fights, conflicts with enemies and feeding of chicks, and you know when the chicks hatched and left the nest.

Two words about hanging nest boxes. It is better to fix houses for tits on a tree near the trunk, just above the middle of the crown (4-6 m is enough). It is better to orient the entrance to the east. Tilt is allowed only forward, that is, towards the entrance, and in no case should you secure the nesting box tilted back - it will be difficult for the chicks to get out of such a house. The nests can be secured to a narrow board or to a pole on the ground, and then the board can be screwed with wire to the tree trunk. The longer the board, the shorter the ladder can be used to raise the titmouse to the required height. This is especially valuable when hanging in the forest, where often you can only use the branches available on the tree to climb higher.

Near residential buildings, it is better to secure the nesting box on a pole. The starlings will not be disturbed at all by the branches of the tree on which the house is attached. But if you want the nesting area to be populated by black swifts, you should make sure that in front of the entrance, as well as two meters below it, there are no branches that interfere with the birds’ flight. Swifts rush down, jumping out of the nest, and only then spread their wings and gain height. That is why they need a space under the nesting area free of obstacles.
A few words about large nest boxes. The owl house is made to attract owls, nesting ducks, and pigeons. There are not so many potential residents for these apartments and therefore these nesting sites are not populated as successfully as smaller ones. Making and hanging such a nesting box is not a matter of one day. Sometimes it takes an entire expedition to get it to its place. (photo 23) And lifting it up a tree without special devices is impossible. Such nesting boxes are hung in certain places for a specific type of bird, but even then the probability of populating an artificial nesting box is less than natural ones. According to experts, the marten, which has bred in large numbers, is largely to blame for this.

Making your own nest box or birdhouse is not as difficult as it might seem from this article. If you find a suitable dry tree, you can make several different nesting boxes and hang them near the house or in the garden. The houses will attract beneficial insectivorous birds, which will fight crop pests and then you can use minimal chemical fertilizers. It is not for nothing that in Europe the most promising species in the practice of forestry activities is considered to be the attraction of great tits. But even tree sparrows feed their chicks exclusively with insects. It’s one thing for one tit to fly into your garden for a short time, but another thing for several pairs to live in it, each of which has from 5 to 12 chicks. They all need to be fed insects. So it’s worth thinking about - the benefits for the gardener are clear. And yet, hollow nesters are very dependent on the number of suitable places for raising chicks. In a garden, shelter belt or young forest, without hollow trees, none of the above species will colonize. But as soon as a person hangs a nest there, one, two or three, this silent green area will come to life, sing in different ways with the beautiful voices of our feathered companions, delighting our ears. Isn't it all worth a little effort?

Main types of nests

Artificial nesting boxes

Since time immemorial, man has tried to place birds near his home so that they would delight him with their appearance and singing and would be allies in the fight for the harvest. A wide variety of objects were and are still being used as artificial houses: clay pots, dry pumpkins, pipe scraps, hollowed out pieces of wood. The most common are the so-called box nests, among them the familiar birdhouse. Thanks to traditional attraction, the number of starlings has increased so much that in some places they have begun to harm fruit and berry crops. But, besides starlings, the houses are inhabited by many other birds, which we have already written about. To attract them to gardens and parks, it is enough to hang nesting boxes somewhat smaller than for starlings (Fig. 17).

The types and sizes of such nesting sites are shown in Figure 18. It is better to hang titmice and nest boxes in groups of 10-30 pieces at a distance of 20-25 m from each other, since birds, although they settle alone, prefer to hear their singing neighbor. The hanging height is 3-5 m. If the site is heavily visited by people, then you can hang it higher. Of all the directions of the entrance, flycatchers prefer the eastern one, and tits prefer the western one. Half nest boxes for wagtails and gray flycatchers are hung one at a time near buildings, boxes for jackdaws and swifts are also hung near housing. Indispensable conditions that must be observed when making nesting boxes: do not plan them from the inside - the chicks will not be able to get out of them; there should not be a variety of shelves and sticks under the entrance; No gaps should be left in the walls and floor.

It is better to hang houses at the end of March - beginning of April; according to tradition, schools celebrate Bird Day at this time. It can be carried out according to a wide variety of programs: with a carnival, a concert, children’s reports on the importance of birds, a competition for a record number of nest boxes made. At the end of spring, before the end of classes, it is very useful to conduct observations of the colonization of hanging titmice. This is not difficult to do by observing which birds appear near the houses. In the fall, you can visit the nesting boxes again, check their safety, and if the covers are removed, then clean them. There is no need to remove them for the winter, as wintering birds use them for roosting.

Nest houses and titmouses can be hung in the pioneer camp. True, immediately after hanging, only pied flycatchers will be able to nest in them, and even those in small numbers; in some - great tits with a second brood. But next year it is possible to deploy a full program of observations of the population, feeding intensity, timing of flight and repeated clutches of cavity-nesting birds.

It is somewhat more difficult to attract open-nesting birds to nest, i.e. those that do not use houses, but this is also possible on a school site or in a pioneer camp, especially if there is an orchard nearby. Open nesting birds together with hollow nesters will effectively protect it from pests. The best way is to plant thorny garden-protective hedges of honey locust, oleaster, hawthorn, golden currant, serviceberry, and Tatarian maple. If they are trimmed every year, they form a continuous wall of green, friendly to birds and inaccessible to predators. In such a wall near Moscow University, whitethroats, warblers, and greenfinches nest annually. On one kilometer of fence on the state farm "Blossoming Moldova" 8 pairs of greenfinches, 6 pairs of tree sparrows, 10 pairs of gray and garden warblers, 2 pairs of shrikes were recorded nesting. Attracting birds increases their numbers 5-7 times.

The meadowchat likes to sit on vertical blades of grass and twigs

Male and female warblers can be easily distinguished by the color of their caps

The lentil is one of the most colorful songbirds

The Chiffchaff, like other warblers, is very modestly colored, but has a sonorous voice and an easy-to-remember song

Question: By hanging artificial nests in the forest for birds nesting in hollows, the population density of these birds can be increased several times, but not indefinitely, because eventually a significant number of these nesting sites will remain unoccupied. What factor could limit the number of cavity-nesting birds before the nests were hung and which (name and justify at least two) - after?

By hanging artificial nests in the forest for birds nesting in hollows, the population density of these birds can be increased several times, but not indefinitely, because eventually a significant number of these nesting sites will remain unoccupied. What factor could limit the number of cavity-nesting birds before the nests were hung and which (name and justify at least two) - after?

Answers:

After the nests were hung, the number of individuals in the population increased, therefore intraspecific competition increased, so the number of individuals began to decrease again

Recommendations for making artificial nests. Artificial nesting for birds Types of artificial nesting for birds

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