Now that we’re aware of our neighborhood squirrels’ appetite for peanut butter and bird seed, we’re moving on from feeding the birds via pinecone treats. On Sunday after a long day at the park, Annabelle and I visited the craft store, selected an unfinished wood birdhouse for about $5, 2 tubes of acrylic paint, and a few wooden embellishments. While my woodcrafting skills are fairly nonexistent, I’ve found that I am fairly skilled at supervising my 2 year old’s painting sessions. So, the pre-built, unpainted woodhouse seemed right up my alley (on a secondary note, I’m pretty sure a 5 year old can manage this project on his own, =)).
We set up shop on our back deck, laying flat a vinyl drop cloth, grabbing paint brushes and a cup, and then painting our hearts out. Mostly, Annabelle globbed and smoothed paint onto the walls of our birdhouse, and every now and again I would resmooth the paint with a dry brush.
When the last coat of paint was on our birdhouse, we took a 2 hour break to eat dinner, play, and do a few chores. Then came the fun part: adding wooden embellishments (I selected “sticker” embellishments so that Annabelle could simple peel and stick the embellishments wherever she wanted without needing too much help). On Monday morning, I added a bit of purple to highlight the birdhouse roof, let the paint dry, and then added birdseed before hanging our birdhouse oustide our kitchen window.
Isn’t she pretty?
Now, we’ll just have to wait and see whether our feeder attracts the birds. Interested in making your own birdfeeder? Not sure what kind of seed to offer your birds? I found the following pages at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to be helpful:
“Food Preferences of Common Feeder Birds”
For now, we are using the rest of our sunflower seeds to feed the birds, which appeals to most feeder bird varieties. What won’t we be offering the birds? Suet. Apparently, it attracts wood peckers, and well, our home’s wood siding all ready does that, so . . . well, that just wouldn’t be a good idea.
Anyway, are you feeding the birds this season?
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uuuh! that is a sweet little birdhouse. some lucky little birdy will love it.
re: your question about the macro lens…i use a 50mm macro. no wide angle. atleast not yet :)
Cyndi, thanks! So far I haven’t seen any birds in there but I guess that doesn’t mean they’re not coming (good way to check will probably be to see whether the seed is getting eaten).
Also, regarding the lens, thank you! I too have a 50 mm lens, though I do not believe it’s a macro. I used it today to photo my garden and just don’t get the quality shots that you do. Well, here’s to more trying, =).
that is beautiful! Yes, we too enjoy feeding birds.
When you get the chance Pras, I hope you’ll return and comment on what kind of seeds your birds like and what feeders they prefer. This is all Greek, er chirp, to me, =).
What a pretty birdhouse, I’m sure they will love it!
What a lovely bird feeder! My 4-year-old is starting a ‘mini carpenter’ class through our local parks & rec department, and she’s really hoping they make a bird house or feeder. If it’s not on the list, I’m pretty sure a project like this will be in my own future, as well. I especially love the embellishments. :)
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