birding Archives

Best Birdhouse Kits for Your Backyard

Posted on September 23, 2022December 15, 2022 Camille Smith

Having a birdhouse (or several) in your backyard is an excellent way to attract birds to your lake house. Plus, creating your own birdhouse can be a fun DIY craft activity for you and your family. But if you’re not an expert woodworker, what should you do? Luckily, there are several birdhouse-making toolkits available on the market. With these kits, you can get all the fun of building your own birdhouse and none of the stress. With most being kid-friendly and a few more upscale choices, check out our top five recommendations!

Toysmith Beetle & Bee Birdhouse Kit

This Beetle & Bee Birdhouse Kit from Toysmith is a fun, highly-rated craft project. The simple, straightforward design requires easy assembly without hardware requirements, perfect for kids ages 5 and up. It also includes a paintbrush to add fun designs to your birds’ new nesting place at the lake.

Window View Birdhouse Kit

This window view birdhouse kit allows you to get a close-up view of birds who visit your lake home. Made of natural Eastern white pine, this small birdhouse is made of durable, high-quality wood that’s built to last. In addition to its wooden parts, the kit comes with two suction cups for mounting onto your window. Just install the birdhouse onto the window, ideally one with curtains or blinds so birds won’t be distracted. Then, just watch birds flock to your hand-built home while you lounge in the living room!

Hapray DIY BirdHouse Kit

Why limit your backyard to just one birdhouse? The Hapray DIY Birdhouse Kit comes with four unassembled birdhouses. With the wooden materials, Bplus glue, and string, you have everything you need included in this kit. These birdhouses are made of high-quality plywood which is both non-toxic and eco-friendly. Now for the most fun part — it also comes with several 12×2 paints, plus a painting palate so you can mix colors to your heart’s content. With cons of colors and plenty of wood, you’ll add a bright, playful feel to your backyard.

Scout Regalia Birdhouse Kit

For a more upscale option, check out this Scout Regalia Birdhouse Kit. Made of laser-cut birch plywood, it’s durable and made to last through the years. In addition to the wooden pieces, this kit also includes a paracord for hanging, as well as clear assembly instructions. Once you’ve put it together, there are several options for styling such as staining, clear coating, painting, or covering it in birdseed. Unlike many other birdhouse kits, this one has a more open-air design, making room for a wide variety of bird species.

Made By Me Birdhouse

This Made By Me Birdhouse is a perfect project for you and your kids at the lake. Easy to build, it comes with pre-cut wooden pieces and glue — no required tools needed. The kit also includes six paint colors, as well as little wooden accessories. Whether your birdhouse is lined with a green fence or decorated with small pink flowers, it’s time to get creative! It’s also a great opportunity to see how colors attract different birds. For instance, hummingbirds are attracted to reds and pinks, while bluebirds are (you guessed it) drawn to blue.

A Few Key Tips

To keep your experience as fun as possible, just be sure to read all the assembly instructions beforehand to make sure you have the proper tools. Also, it’s important to consider the durability of the materials. While cedar is perhaps the most sturdy, high-quality material, it’s also the most expensive. However, plywood is also an excellent option. Finally, determine what species of birds you’d like to see. For instance, bird feeders with smaller holed entrances will attract smaller birds like wrens, whereas birdhouses with more open spaces will bring in larger birds like sparrows. Whatever you choose, we hope you enjoy creating your birdhouse — and we hope the birds enjoy it just as much!

How to Attract Birds to Your Lake House

Posted on September 4, 2020September 2, 2020 Camille Smith

Despite its reputation as a boring pastime, bird watching is anything but dull. It’s a popular hobby that over 45 million Americans engage in, according to the U.S. Fishing and Wildlife Service. Bird watching is especially thrilling if you own a lake home. “At the lake, you have a greater range of potential bird species to interact with,” says Dr. Julian Avery, a conservation biologist at Penn State University. “I get excited thinking about different species (waterfowl, sandpipers, and sparrows) that might show up around a lake that would not enter urban areas.” Besides the joy of high-flying guests, tangible benefits to attracting birds include pest control and pollination. Ultimately, it’s worth the extra effort to attract birds to your lake house. Here are some foolproof strategies for bringing in more winged guests this season!

Choose the Right Seed

Birds are not hard to please. Just like humans, birds must fulfill their basic needs to survive. If you can provide food, water, and shelter, they’ll start congregating around your lake home. Food is an excellent place to start. Since different birds prefer different seeds, the question of how to choose the best bird seed depends on the types of birds you’d like to attract. If you want to bring in multiple species, diversify your seed types. “Make sure you use a variety of foods and clean regularly,” Dr. Avery advises, “As you increase the number of seed types, you should see an increase in species variety.” When choosing a feeder, remember to follow guidelines ,so your birdseed doesn’t attract predators.

Set up a Bird Bath

Birdbaths are not just for decor. While these shallow stone basins are a charming look for your outdoor space, they’re also a major bird magnet. For birds, these baths serve a dual purpose– drinking and preening. Just keep in mind that you must maintain it regularly. Scott, a bird enthusiast ,and blogger, writes on his website Bird Watching HQ: “Birds love having fresh water so much that typically within a few days, they have made the water in your bath pretty gross. This means that you will have to commit to changing the water every few days and cleaning with a scrub brush every few weeks.” In the winter, purchasing a heated birdbath will attract birds to your lake house. When most of their water supply is frozen, they’ll quickly gravitate towards the warm water.

Litter Some Leaves

Not all birds rely on feeders. Species like starlings, doves, and quails typically search for their next meal on the ground. To attract these birds, try raking fallen leaves underneath your shrubs to create mulch. Dr. Stephen Kress, the National Audubon Society’s vice president for Bird Conservation, told All About Birds how this strategy works. According to Dr. Kress, earthworms, roly-poly bugs, insects, and spiders will thrive in this pile of leaves, providing a delicious dinner for ground-feeding birds. “In general,” he says, “overly tidy gardeners are poor bird gardeners!”

Provide Shelter

Whether it’s snowing outside or blistering hot, birds need protection from extreme weather conditions. This need for cover will drive them away from a barren yard and closer to one filled with trees and shrubs at varying heights. “Having some vegetation and cover will enhance your feeding and viewing opportunities,” Dr. Avery says. “We tend to clear the shoreline of vegetation ,but this makes it less likely you will have wildlife on your property. Waterfowl will not nest unless there is some cover, and you have a unique opportunity to help these species raise young in your backyard!” When choosing plants, be sure to pick ones native to your hardiness zone as they’ll attract native insects that birds eat. Evergreen plants are also good choices that provide shelter for birds year-round.

Put these tips into action, and your backyard will become a bird sanctuary in no time! Bird watching provides hours of enjoyment for its practitioners.

Pick Up a New Lake Hobby – Bird Watching

Posted on January 18, 2015October 18, 2022 Glenn S. Phillips

Many people enjoy the delightful chirping of birds in their area, but have no clue on how to identify which ones they most often come across. This is where bird watching comes in! Bird watching is a low-key, yet thoroughly enjoyable hobby that has long been popular in the US.

Bird watching, also referred to as ‘Birding’, can be enjoyed by people of all ages. And, one of the best places to start is right on the lake! Lakes are a great natural habitat, not only for ducks and geese, but for a large variety of species of birds.

Join a Local Club

Consider joining a bird watching group or any other club or association. Learning from people with experience is the easiest and most effective way to learn the basics. It’s also a great way to get out and learn about your lake community and the type of birds in the area.

Get the Equipment

First and foremost, to start bird watching, you have to purchase some good binoculars. Birds won’t allow you to get close to them, and binoculars come in handy when identifying birds from a distance.

Since you are just starting out, it is advised to go for a simple pair. These have powerful levels of magnification and will not be too hard on your wallet, in case you decide that birding isn’t for you.

After purchasing the binoculars, you will have to get yourself a field guide to help identify birds in your area.

As the name implies, a field guide provides detailed information of birds you might find in your area.

There are many field guides available, however, it is recommended to go for one which is targeted specifically for ‘beginners’ or one that is geared to your area such as Birds of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

You can also consider looking at the online resources such as The Audubon Society.

Bird Diaries

A diary or notebook will help record all the birds you have sighted so far. As soon as you notice a bird in your area, you can record the month, time of day, the location. Also and any other information you would like to keep, such as bird size, behavior, and sounds.

This information can also possibly help you locate this species or similar ones in the future. Through a birding diary, your personal birding experiences, thoughts about various bird specious, and notes can be documented.

Learn Bird Sounds

A birds chirp can be very distinctive and is an effective way to identify some bird species. Once you have grasped the concept of identifying different birds through sight, try focusing on learning bird sounds and songs.

Use your bird diary to take note of the sounds different birds make, then you can compare that to bird recordings online.

Birding is an inexpensive and easy hobby to pick up and one that can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own porch overlooking the lake!