Types of artificial nesting boxes for birds. Duplyanka (artificial nesting places for birds)

March is just around the corner. It’s high time to take care of nesting sites for the bird population in the area. What birds do we want to see in our garden?

The great tit and blue tit are real gardener's assistants, one of the most useful birds in forestry and park management. If you regularly fed the tits in winter, then in the spring they will not forget the way to your garden. But no matter how hospitable the feeder is, tits will not stay in the garden or park if there is no hollow or house suitable for building a nest.

Most often, people make nesting houses for starlings - birdhouses (sparrows also willingly populate them). Undoubtedly, the starling deserves to have a house built for him. One starling brood can eat about 1000 cockchafers and their larvae in 5 days, not counting a huge number of caterpillars and slugs. Observations by ornithologists say that the starling most often hunts not in the garden near the house, but in the nearest forest or field, while the tit works only in the area where its nest is located. So - choose. Maybe we should help the small birds first? Such as blue tit, garden redstart, pied flycatcher, white wagtail. These birds usually settle in hollows, and few people remember them in the spring, which is a pity. My opinion: we need to attract as many small birds as possible into gardens, parks, squares and shelterbelts, and leave villages and the outskirts of forest parks to starlings. It is best to hang one birdhouse for every five houses for small birds. This measure will keep the starling in our gardens and yards, but will reduce its numbers. There is another, very original, method of keeping the number of starlings within reasonable limits. The fact is that in a spacious standard house a pair of starlings raises three to six chicks, and in a cramped birdhouse with a bottom area of ​​12x12 centimeters (as in a natural hollow) - two or three.

The material for nesting houses can be any dry board with a thickness of at least 1.5 centimeters (2-2.5 centimeters is best), as well as planks, slabs, a whole log or a log with a hollow. Thin boards and plywood are unsuitable: they are short-lived and warp quickly. You can make a nest from a log, but it has no advantages compared to a house, and it is much more difficult to make.

The boards can be planed on the outside of the house, but they cannot be processed on the inside: it is very difficult for chicks (and even adult birds) to get out on a smooth surface. If the boards turn out to be smooth, then before assembling the house on its front wall - from the inside, below the notch - you need to make horizontal notches with a chisel or knife. There is no need to make any thresholds outside under the entrance; the birds get along just fine without them. It’s good if there is a branch near the treehouse: tits and flycatchers like to sit on the sidelines and look around before flying into the nest. The taphole is drilled with a brace or gouged with a narrow chisel. If you don't have anything to cut a round hole with, let it be square. To do this, you need to saw off the upper corner of the front wall. The titmouse differs from the birdhouse primarily in the diameter of the entrance. To inspect the house before the birds arrive and clean it from the remains of last year’s nest, the roof is made removable, strengthened so that neither the wind nor the crow can knock it down. The simplest fastening option is to pull the lid to the house with wire; a more complex one is to use spikes provided in the design of the side walls and roof. A flat roof with a slight slope back is more efficient; a gable roof will begin to leak faster.

When assembling the house, first a plank is nailed to the back wall, with which the nest box is attached to a tree or pole. The side walls are nailed to the bottom, then the front and finally the back with a strip. To fasten the walls to the bottom, it is better to use screws rather than nails. We must try to make the house firmly built, without cracks. If any have formed, they are caulked with tow or coated with clay.

Houses begin to be hung as early as February, as some sedentary and nomadic birds (sparrows, tits, nuthatches) look for nesting places very early. In the central zone of the European part of Russia, the latest date for hanging is the end of March. Houses for flycatchers can be hung until the end of April. The best time for hanging titmouses is autumn: by spring the nesting box will darken and become part of the tree.

The bird house should be modest and inconspicuous, hanging vertically or with a slight tilt forward. Birdhouses hung backwards, as a rule, are not occupied.

Sparrows and starlings are the least “picky” about the appearance of artificial nests. Other birds do not like to live in bright or freshly planed houses. Before hanging, they are painted with a strong solution of potassium permanganate or lightly coated with earth. The pied flycatcher often ignores a house that has darkened over the years. But if you whiten it inside with chalk, the situation will change. The great tit, on the contrary, prefers twilight in the nest. Birdhouses can be painted on the outside with oil paint.

In noisy, crowded places - parks, squares - nesting places for birds should be placed higher: birdhouses - 5-6, titmouse - 4 meters from the ground. In a calm garden environment, the titmouse can hang at a height of 2 meters.

Unlike the starling, the great tit is very picky in choosing its nesting site. It is better to make a house for her from thick boards and also without cracks. It is advisable to cover the titmouse in the crown of a tree, but the branches should not cover the entrance. Neither tits, nor flycatchers, nor redstarts like open, windy, sunny places. The wagtail is distinguished by the fact that it does not know how to cling to vertical surfaces with its paws - therefore it never settles in birdhouses. But if you make a special house and hang it under the eaves of an uninhabited wooden structure, a pair of wagtails will willingly build a nest there.

There are different ways to attach nest boxes to trees. The simplest option is this. From the outside, a 6-7 cm nail is driven into the side walls of the house exactly in the middle of the cut of the back wall, retreating from above by 1/3 of the entire length of the wall. The nail is driven from the bottom up. The end of a hemp rope or soft wire (aluminum wire must be insulated) is wound around one of the nails, thrown over the roof, slightly pulled and brought under the second nail. Then they wrap a rope around a trunk or thick branch of a tree and secure the end to a nail. Old electrical cords are good for this type of fastening.

To hang the house, you need a light 4-meter ladder. It's better to work with two or three people. You can make a loop at the ends of the rope in advance and put them on nails when hanging. The rope on the tree is placed obliquely to the trunk shaft, and not across it.

Where should the entrance to the house look? In a park where winds and rain are restrained by trees, it is not necessary to strictly observe the direction of the entrance. Before hanging a nesting box in an open place, you need to determine exactly from which side in your area rains and winds most often come in summer.

A properly made house can serve birds for several years.

Bird houses
( Dimensions are in centimeters)

Attracting birds to artificial nesting sites is a long-standing Russian tradition. And the first birds for which people began to build homes were starlings. The tradition of hanging birdhouses to attract birds has deep roots in Russia. Apparently, already in the second half of the 18th century, the construction of wooden birdhouses became widespread in Russia

folk custom. Moreover, even then, unlike Western European countries, Russian peasants hung birdhouses to attract and protect starlings, and not to catch birds for the purpose of eating them.

The birdhouse is a purely Russian invention. The first artificial nests were most likely made from birch bark, or pieces of felled tree trunks with natural hollows were used. But no evidence in the form of remains of such structures, their drawings or mentions in chronicles has been preserved. For the first time in historical evidence, birdhouses appear in the 19th century from the territory of the Upper Volga region, and what is interesting is that the very first images of birdhouses belong to the Kostroma province, the territory of the current Ivanovo (Staraya Vichuga) and Yaroslavl (village of Gumnishchi) regions.

The earliest birdhouses that have survived to this day are the original birdhouses from the Moscow province in the form of wooden sculptures of a man and a woman. They are kept in the Historical Museum and the date of their creation dates back to 1870. One birdhouse is made in the form of a sculpture depicting an old man. The mouth served as a hole for starlings. This is a unique work of art, not typical of the life of peasants of the 19th century. As the staff of the State Historical Museum managed to find out, their author, the peasant Savinov Vasily Timofeevich, during his life made a lot of similar wooden sculptures and a lot of household items with relief and three-dimensional images of a person. (Appendix, Fig. 1)

The second birdhouse is made in the form of an old woman with a bucket and a stick in her hands, probably intended as a pair with the first. The entrance for starlings is located under the chin. In both birdhouses the nests of their former residents are still preserved. (Appendix, Fig. 2)

It is difficult to say when the first birdhouses appeared and what they looked like before the 19th century.

And now the birdhouse remains an integral element of the landscape of the Central Russian village. However, it is not only for starlings that artificial nesting sites can and should be arranged. From the middle of the 20th century. Various types of artificial nesting boxes are being developed and successfully used - both to attract beneficial birds to gardens and parks, and to preserve rare species.

Making, hanging and caring for artificial nesting boxes creates optimal conditions for nurturing students’ environmental culture. Schoolchildren are engaged not only in theoretical discussions about environmental problems, but also make their personal, practical contribution to preserving the nature of their native land. Wild birds are beneficial because they are natural pest regulators. In addition, bird watching is an important component of the formation of an ecological worldview and aesthetic perception of the surrounding world by the younger generation.

By hanging artificial nesting boxes (birdhouses, titmouses or nest boxes) you can significantly increase the number of songbirds near the school. The easiest way to attract small passerine-like hollow nesters to school grounds, gardens and parks. First of all, these are various species of tits, pied flycatchers and garden redstarts. All these birds sing beautifully. In addition, they collect food insects in the immediate vicinity of the nest.

Under natural conditions, some small birds nest in hollows hollowed out by woodpeckers or niches formed as a result of rotting wood, as well as behind the loose bark of dry trees. Unfortunately, in forests and parks, during sanitary felling, hollow trees are destroyed first.

Hollow-nesting birds, if there are hollows, live in forests and parks of the most diverse types, as well as in urbanized landscapes. Therefore, by hanging artificial nesting boxes, you can easily control their numbers and attract them to the places where they are needed. If there are several artificial nesting sites nearby, some birds, for example a male pied flycatcher, can attract two or even three females to the nesting site, and, accordingly, simultaneously feed two or three broods in neighboring nesting sites.

There are many types of artificial nest boxes to attract cavity-nesting birds. The simplest and most common are box nests made from boards or waste from the sawmill industry. The material for their manufacture is quite affordable - scraps of boards, slabs, old material from broken buildings and structures are quite suitable for their manufacture. Rotten boards should not be used.

In addition to the birdhouses themselves, there are modifications for various birds: tits, flycatchers, redstarts, wagtails, etc.

Birdhouse (titmouse)-- closed artificial nesting site for passerine birds - hollow nesters. Birdhouses and titmouses are the most popular among bird lovers and the most common of all artificial nesting boxes; they can be used both in the natural environment and in rural and urban areas.

The birdhouse is traditionally made in the form of a wooden house with a round or rectangular entrance. The height is usually 25-40 cm, the bottom size is about 14 cm, the diameter of the entrance is about 5 cm. The lid should be removable so that the nesting box can be checked, as well as cleaned at the end of the nesting season - it should be removed from the nesting box remove nesting material (starlings, tits and nuthatches can do this themselves, but some other birds cannot). Placed on a tree in the forest, park, on a balcony, wall or under the roof of a house. Birdhouses should be installed in gardens, villages, on the outskirts of the city, on trees and poles at a height of 3-5 m. (Appendix, Fig. 3)

It is better to make a titmouse for great tits deeper; you can make the shape of the nesting cavity octagonal by attaching triangular blocks along the entire height of the titmouse in the corners (in this case, you should increase the size of the bottom to 14x14 cm). (Appendix, Fig. 4)

For other tits - chickadees, blue tits, tufted tits, and black tits, the titmouse should be smaller and not so deep (Appendix, Fig. 5). All tits love darkness in their nests, so the inside of the tits is treated with stain.

You can also use small titmouses for pied flycatchers, but they need to be made light on the inside, for example, whitened.

For pikas, corner nests are built in the lower part of the trunks of large trees in parks and forests (Appendix, Fig. 6).

For the gray flycatcher, nesting sites should be semi-open (Appendix, Fig. 7).

When constructing plank nests, the following points must be taken into account:

• 1. The boards on the inside of the nest must be unplaned. It is even recommended to additionally scratch the inside of the boards with a nail, chisel, awl or other tool - this will allow birds and especially chicks to easily get out of the birdhouse.
• 2. The bottom must be sandwiched between the side, front and rear walls, and fasteners (nails, screws) fit into its ends.
• 3. The roof must be removable so that the nesting box can be cleaned and disinfected at the end of the breeding season.
• 4. There is no need to fit the boards tightly when assembling the birdhouse - small gaps will provide ventilation for the nesting box.
• 5. A small birdhouse can be adapted for certain types of birds - for tits, darken it with stain or a strong solution of potassium permanganate; for flycatchers, make it light - whitewash the inside.
• 6. The outside of the birdhouse can be painted in camouflage colors, but for use in parks and garden plots, you can make bright, designer birdhouses that will support the style of the plot and serve as an element of its design.
• 7. An arrival perch or bar is not needed; it will only facilitate access to the nesting area for predators - cats, mustelids.
• 8. Nesting nests can be hung on trees, specially installed poles, on buildings and structures (Appendix, Fig. 8).

Duplyankas

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 plank titmouse or birdhouse, simply because the nest box:

• 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 nest will be significantly less;
• 4- such nesting is less noticeable on trees and in the forest, which will help in protection from predators.

The first and most difficult thing in this matter is to find a suitable tree. Aspen is best suited for the base of the nest. 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. In order to select the most suitable trunk, it is best to look in an old aspen forest, where there are enough fallen trees. From these, we make test cuts and choose the best option. After cutting, you need to make sure that the core is rotten and, having measured the required section of the trunk, saw off it on the other side.

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). 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 bottom is perpendicular to the trunk, the roof is at a slight slope from the tap hole. 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. At the edge, the core is harder, therefore, 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.

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. 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. But if the crown has no entrance, you need to mark it, 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 a 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. A piece of board 1.5-2 cm thick will do. Once the piece is secured, you should cut off the parts of the walls protruding beyond it.

The roof can be made from a piece of board, like the bottom, but it is better from a slab. It’s good if the roof protrudes a few centimeters above the entrance - this protects the inside of the nest from rain. It is more practical to secure the roof with self-tapping screws, because every year it is very desirable to clean the nesting area from the building material of the previous owners (Appendix, Fig. 9).

Plasticine, window putty, garden tree putty or other plastic material should be used to cover the gaps between the walls and the bottom, as well as the walls and the lid if the gaps are too wide, as well as places from rotten knots on the body of the nest. This must be done in order to protect the nesting site from “vandalism” by woodpeckers, who are the most malicious destroyers of bird houses.

The nest boxes can be inhabited by great tits, pied flycatchers, tree sparrows, garden redstarts, and blue tits. Larger nesting sites and birdhouses will be primarily populated by starlings and swifts.

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. 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. 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.

One of the most common, most popular and widespread forms of wildlife conservation in our country is caring for beneficial birds.

It manifests itself in feeding, in protection from predators, but most of all - in the construction of artificial nesting sites: various types of plank and dugout nesting houses. Secondary and primary schools play a huge role in protecting and attracting insectivorous birds. The “Bird Days” they hold have become a wonderful tradition for us for a long time. A whole army of schoolchildren, led by natural science teachers, with the active help of young people, every year prepares wooden nesting houses and nesting boxes (the nesting boxes are made from trimming a tree trunk (from a log), drilling or hollowing out the core) in order to erect them on the trees on a fine spring day and poles in the nearest garden, park or forest. They are readily used by some species of birds, usually nesting in tree hollows.

At the beginning of spring, schools often organize special exhibitions, reports and conversations about the benefits of birds, the need for their protection, methods for attracting them, how to observe their life, etc. Children's matinees are often timed to coincide with Bird Day. where students read poems, perform choral songs, and sometimes even stage small plays or live paintings dedicated to birds. “Bird Day” is given special editions of wall newspapers; During the preparation and implementation of the campaign itself, leaflets are printed in the youth section of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation; the results of the work are covered in the local press.

Attracting birds not only instills good feelings in young people, instills a love for nature and develops a taste for its beauty.

It is also important in practical terms, as it increases the number of winged helpers for humans in the fight against pests in gardens and forests, vegetable gardens and fields.

If we decided to count how many birdhouses, nest boxes and other types of artificial nests are hung by schoolchildren throughout the Soviet Union, we would get a huge figure. According to L. Nevsky, in the Nerekhtinsky district of the Kostroma region alone in 1950, schoolchildren made and hung 3,725 birdhouses, and during the period from 1947 to 1951, a total of over 11 thousand pieces.

Hanging artificial nests for insectivorous birds as a reclamation technique is now the responsibility of forestry workers. According to the Forest Protection Department of the Ministry of Forestry of the RSFSR, in the forests of 29 regions of the Russian Federation, 27.4 thousand artificial nesting boxes were hung in 1948, in 1949 - 53.7 thousand, and in 1950 - 87.5 thousand . things.

The same is being done in other union republics. In 1948, more than 38 thousand nesting boxes were hung in the forests of the Ukrainian SSR, and over 13 thousand in the forests of the Byelorussian SSR.

In nature reserves, many birds are also attracted in this way. In particular, in Prioksko-Terrasny, Voronezh, Khopersky, Mordovsky, as well as in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1953, there were about 7.5 thousand artificial nesting sites.

Although artificial nesting sites are inhabited mainly by starlings, pied flycatchers and great tits, and relatively less often by great spotted woodpeckers, nuthatches, whirligigs, redstarts, pikas, white wagtails and some others nesting in hollows and other shelters, but they are all very useful in extermination insects, including many serious pests.

Birds, of course, do not occupy all nesting sites, but the percentage of occupied sites is still quite high. Of the 27,412 artificial nesting sites installed in 1948 in 13 forestry enterprises of various regions and republics of the RSFSR, 83% turned out to be occupied by birds.

In the forestry areas of the Ukrainian SSR in 1948, 72% of the hanging nests were populated mainly by starlings. Birds most willingly populate artificial nesting sites in pine forests, where there are few hollow trees. In mixed and deciduous forests there are quite a lot of natural shelters at the disposal of birds, so there birds have less need for artificial nests and occupy them much less often. In the pine forest of the Voronezh Nature Reserve, according to estimates by T. Koshkina and M. Rubina, in 1944, 75% of the nesting sites posted for them were occupied by birds. In mixed and deciduous forests - much less, and many of them were occupied by an arboreal rodent - the forest dormouse. They were inhabited mainly by redstarts and pied flycatchers, as well as great tits; They were used much less frequently by the great spotted woodpecker and nuthatch, and very rarely were they occupied by other birds.

In the pine forests of Riga's green zone during 1947-1949. About 1,000 artificial nesting boxes were hung. According to E. Tauriņš and G. Michelsone, over 68%. they were mastered by birds already in the first year. More than half were occupied by Pied Flycatcher, 20% by Great Tit, 12% by Puffy Tit, and the remaining few were occupied by Redstart and Tufted Tit.

With the settlement of hanging nests, of course, the number of birds also increases. In the pine forests of the Riga suburbs, where nesting sites were located, there were an average of 100 pairs of pied flycatchers and 10 pairs of tufted tits per 100 hectares of forest. Where there were no artificial nesting sites, there were on average only two pairs of named birds.

In the plantings of the Bolshevskaya biological station in the vicinity of Moscow, a year after hanging nest boxes, the total number of birds increased by one and a half times.

With the hanging of birdhouses and nest boxes, the hubbub of birds in city and suburban gardens and parks becomes livelier and more fun.

The feathered population in these crowded recreation areas attracts attention with their chirping and singing, mobility, colorful plumage, and graceful forms.

By making it easier for birds to build nests and raise chicks, people not only increase the bird population, but within certain limits can regulate its species composition. But for this, when hanging nesting boxes, one must take into account the tendency for one or another bird species to choose a certain type.

In the gardens and parks of the central zone of the Union, the pied flycatcher, for example, occupies mainly shallow nesting sites, and the great tit occupies deeper ones.

In 1949-1951 In Askania-Nova and at the Brilev experimental station in the Ukrainian SSR, successful experiments described by V. Treus and G. Uspensky were carried out using bottle gourds specially grown for this purpose as nesting sites. Hollowed out and dried pumpkins were hung several at a time on poles, and starlings eagerly occupied them. According to V. Strokov, in 1952-1954, pumpkin nests successfully spread in other places in our country.

The location of the nesting sites also matters. Tits hanging on the edges attract mainly pied flycatchers, and in the depths of the forest - mostly tits. By hanging nest boxes you can encourage birds to nest even in young plantings where there are absolutely no hollows. In the Voronezh Nature Reserve, for example, the great tit has populated many nest boxes hanging in a very young, thin-trunked pine forest.

The starling usually settles along the edges or in small groves, but with artificial methods it can be lured deeper into the forest. The forester of the Kamensky forestry of the Rostov region, hanging starlings in plain sight from one another, forced the starlings to go deeper into the forest, to the center of mass reproduction of pests, at a distance of one kilometer from the edge.

Birds nesting under the roofs and eaves of houses and in wall recesses are attracted by the construction of special niches in the walls of stone or wooden buildings. Starlings, swifts, hoopoes, rollers, pied flycatchers, redstarts willingly settle in niches, not to mention such common inhabitants of buildings as sparrows.

Artificial masonry made of turf and stones manages to attract the white wagtail and the small owl bird - the owl - to nest.

Artificial nesting boxes are also used to attract large, useful birds. In the southwestern regions of our Union, peasants have long, according to tradition, attracted storks by arranging some simple devices for them on the roof of their house that make it easier for the birds to build a nest. Most often, an old cart wheel serves this purpose. It is recommended to do something similar to facilitate the construction of nests of beneficial birds of prey that feed on mouse-like rodents. As a basis for the nest, it is useful to strengthen several plank beams and branches on thick branches near the tree trunk.

Birds of prey, according to S. Folitarek, willingly use artificial nests made of brushwood, specially built for them. In some forest dachas of the Byelorussian SSR, in this way it was possible to increase the number of nesting predators by 70%.

In large hollows and plank nests suspended from trees, in the absence of natural hollows, some ducks willingly nest, in particular goldeneye and lutok, which, like woodpeckers, breed in hollows.

In the Darwin Nature Reserve, located on the shore of the Rybinsk Reservoir, as a result of intensive deforestation before the formation of the reservoir, there were almost no goldeneyes left. According to Yu. Isakov and V. Nemtsev (1953), in three years (1946-1948) only one nest of this duck was found there, and only once a brood was discovered.

The reserve's workers set out to correct the current situation. During 1949-1951 they hung over 450 artificial nesting boxes. Three years have passed, and in the coastal strip of about 10 km, the goldeneye has become the most common nesting duck. Already in the first year, 1949, out of 107 nests posted, 29 were occupied; in 1950, ducks settled in 82 nesting boxes out of 201, and in 1951, they raised ducklings in 140 nesting boxes.

In addition to goldeneye, loot and even mallard occasionally settled in nesting houses and nest boxes.

Special huts made of peat, dry grass and reeds on flooded trees were also tested in the Darwin Nature Reserve. Mallards readily used them and calmly hatched ducklings in them.

On some islands of Novaya Zemlya and in places of the Kola Peninsula, where eiders nest, plank crosses and other simple devices are specially placed: these ducks willingly use them to build nests.

In the Astrakhan Nature Reserve, high floods destroyed the nests of pink and Dalmatian pelicans. As a result, these “decorative” birds have almost disappeared there. In 1947, on the site of their former colony, a huge 80 m long raft was built for the first time from sheaves of reeds fastened with poles and wire. In the same year, 80 pairs of pelicans began nesting on a “raft” secured with stakes driven into the ground.

In subsequent years, new rafts and floating “islands” were built, and almost each one had its own colonies of these birds. On much smaller rafts, built on broken reed stems, colonies of common terns formed, and later black and white-winged terns nested (V. Dubinin, 1953).

Nest houses hung to attract insectivorous birds are often inhabited by bats. In the Voronezh Nature Reserve in pine and mixed forests, they occupied up to 30% of artificial nesting sites. For these useful animals, special, higher nest boxes with a tray located below are now hung in places.

Trimming bushes, which causes the formation of forks and whorls convenient for making nests, is an old technique recommended by Berlepsh to attract birds nesting in bushes. In Leningrad suburban parks where bush trimming is used, the number of birds has noticeably increased. Under such conditions, A. Malchevsky found nests of warblers, shrikes, lentils, wrens, and white-browed thrushes even in yellow acacia bushes, where birds usually do not nest.

Not everyone knows that the main defenders of the garden and vegetable garden on a personal plot are birds. But this is true. Birds are voracious. Sometimes their gluttony not only surprises, but also shocks. The white wagtail, weighing 17 g, eats pests with a total weight of 21 g per day. This is 126% of the weight of food relative to the weight of the bird. In the wren this percentage reaches 180, in the chiffchaff - 190. This need for food is explained by the large expenditure of energy during flights, when there is a very intense metabolism and the body temperature of some birds reaches 42°.

Bird activity increases noticeably while feeding chicks. The white wagtail, gray flycatcher, and great tit return to their nest with food more than three hundred times in just one day; chiffchaffs and pied flycatchers return more than four hundred times. The food that a pair of starlings brings to their chicks can fill three birdhouses. The pied flycatcher, which weighs less than 10 g, feeds its generation, usually consisting of 5 chicks, over 1 kg of insects during 15-16 days of nesting, and great tits feed twice as much.

That’s why try to attract insectivorous birds to your garden plot, help them, make artificial nesting places for them.

Pied flycatchers, great tits, redstarts, field sparrows and house sparrows live in tit boxes; starlings, rollers, white wagtails, and gray flycatchers live in birdhouses.

Why are titmouses and birdhouses often empty? What is the reason for the “reluctance” of birds to settle in your garden plot?

The fact is that we often do not know the requirements of birds for housing. At first glance, everything seems simple: knock down a box, make a hole in it, nail it to a tree... and the bird’s “house” is ready. But birds don’t live in it. They don't like him. What's the matter?

For houses, it is better to take a board at least one and a half centimeters thick. Thinner boards are not durable. They quickly warp and crack. Plywood is not at all suitable for these purposes: it does not retain heat well, delaminates, and allows sound to pass through. Most birds do not like noise.

The bird house must be firmly built, without cracks: starlings and other birds do not tolerate drafts. The nest boards must be unplaned so that the bird can easily get to the entrance.

Previously, houses had gable roofs. It's not obligatory. Such imitation of people's homes only complicates the work. It is better and easier to make a roof without a slope and removable. Possibly from slab. Its area is so small that water will not linger on it, especially since when hanging houses there is always a slope in one direction or another. It is advisable for him to be forward. The roof, as we have already said, is better to make it removable, since the house itself needs to be cleaned periodically. Insectivorous birds annually build a new nest on the old one. Therefore, after a few years, they “fill” the room with old nests right up to the entrance. The removable roof should protrude 3-5 cm above the entrance.

The internal dimensions of the house, its height and the diameter of the entrance are important. For a birdhouse, the bottom area should be from 12x12 to 16x16 cm; height from bottom to lid - 28-35 cm; entrance diameter - 4.7-5 cm. Recommended dimensions of a titmouse: bottom area 10x10 or 12x12 cm, height - 22-28 cm, entrance - 3-4.5 cm. Great tit, pied flycatcher, blue tit, whirligig, redstart, sparrows. For smaller birds (muscovy, grenadier, etc.) you need a house with an area of ​​8X8 or 9X9 cm, a height of 22-25 cm and a hole of 3 cm. We must not forget that the distance from the hole to the roof should be equal to the diameter of the hole. This is for most birds.

To make birds more willing to inhabit the houses, they need to be painted. Most birds prefer to live in houses painted green, brown, yellow, red and black, but they do not like blue. Birds like to settle in unpainted houses, the front wall of which is made of unsanded slab. In all likelihood, such nesting sites resemble natural hollows for birds. The inside of the old house needs to be whitewashed.

It is equally important to take into account the orientation of the taphole to the cardinal points. For pied flycatchers, the east is preferable, for tits - the west. Birds usually do not like the northwestern direction and avoid settling in such houses. The best flight direction for most birds is from northwest to southeast.

Some birds - starlings, sparrows - live in colonies. For them, nesting boxes can be hung side by side or on the same pole, placing houses one above the other. Other birds do not tolerate the proximity of someone's nests. For pied flycatchers, for example, the distance between nests should be 15-20 m, for great tits - 40-60 m.

Bird houses must be protected from cats. The pole on which the house is installed is covered with tin or canopies are made on the branches.

If you want to protect your garden from pests, welcome birds. They are loyal, hardworking and kind helpers to humans.

BASIC ELEMENTS OF ARTIFICIAL HOUSES

An artificial house for birds, an artificial nest (hereinafter simply an artificial house) is a structure created by a person in which a bird arranges (builds) its nest. All artificial houses have a number of basic elements, regardless of the type of house.

* Letok - a hole for birds to enter the house.
* The front wall is the wall in which there is a taphole.
* The back wall is the wall to which the pole is attached, or the wall that leans against the tree.
* Side walls are all other vertical walls.
* The chamber is the internal volume of an artificial house.
* A pole is a plank used to attach an artificial house to a tree, etc.
* A fragment is an element of an artificial house made of wood.
* The suspension unit is the mechanical fastening of the elements of an artificial house.
* The connecting element is called: nails, screws, etc.
* A reinforcement unit is a set of elements used in a given location of a seam to increase strength. There may be: metal tapes, wire and other elements.
* A seam is the plane of contact between two load-bearing elements.
* A porch is the name given to various devices at the entrance.
* Load-bearing elements are the front, rear, side walls, bottom, and suspension unit.
* A stamp is a small metal or plastic plate indicating the year of manufacture, manufacturer, place of manufacture, and individual number.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL HOUSES

The main materials for making artificial houses are boards and slabs. Plywood, chipboard, and fiberboard are not suitable due to the presence of an adhesive binder in them. When making an artificial house, a number of basic requirements must be met.

* The thickness of the material is at least 15 millimeters.
* Compliance with the basic dimensions given in the tables.
* Do not process the planes of the boards, especially internal surfaces.
* Seal the cracks in the seams with PVA sawdust and small shavings. To prevent the seal from spreading on top, the seams are treated with waterproof agents: plasticine, green paint.
* Ensure reliable connection of load-bearing elements.
* The pole has two pairs of holes for fastening with wire and nails.
* Availability of a removable roof with lining.

* In the places of fastening points, pre-drill a hole 1 mm smaller than the diameter of the connecting element.
* Use sharp screws as a connecting element.
* Birds populate houses with round entrances better than houses with rectangular entrances.
* Sometimes the entrances of titmouses are hollowed out by great spotted woodpeckers (in winter, to use the titmouse for sleeping; in summer, to get chicks of small birds out of the nest). To protect against woodpeckers, hammer 8-10 small nails with caps around the entrance or stuff a piece of tin with a hole cut in the middle for the entrance on the outside of the entrance (the diameter of the hole is slightly larger than the diameter of the entrance in the titmouse).
* When designing an artificial house for a bird not listed in the table, it is necessary to take into account: the bottom area should ensure the location of the nest in the house (the size of the internal part is calculated from the dimensions of the nest with a small allowance), birds are more willing to populate the house when the entrance matches its size and other features bird nesting.

CLASSIFICATION OF ARTIFICIAL HOUSES

1. Type: Standard artificial houses.
1. Subtype: Birdhouses.
2. Subtype: Titmouse.
2. Type: Multi-family artificial houses.
1. Subtype: Multi-storey.
2. Subtype: Multi-section.
3. Subtype: Mixed.
3. Type: Experimental artificial houses.
1. Subtype: With changed basic parameters.
2. Subtype: With modified suspension system.
3. Subtype: With a modified form.
4. Subtype: Using additional devices.
5. Subtype: Multi-family.
6. Subtype: For a new inhabitant.
7. Subtype: Mixed.
4. Type: Artificial houses with artistic decoration.
1. Subtype: Standard.
2. Subtype: Multi-family.
3. Subtype: Special.

The feather type includes artificial houses designed for starlings, tits, goldeneyes, owls, rollers, hoopoes, sparrows, redstarts, pied flycatchers, blue tits, wrens, nuthatches, chickadees, and grenadiers. It looks like a house. Character traits:

* has four walls that are parallel in pairs - back, front and two sides;
* intended for occupancy by one family;
* in the fastening there is a pole.

Birdhouses and titmouses have no structural differences, but differ in their size and the diameter of the entrance. Let us conventionally assume that birdhouses include houses with an internal bottom area of ​​more than 144 cm2, and titmouses 144 cm2 or less.

The second type includes artificial houses intended for settlement by a colony of birds. They are mainly intended for swifts, swallows, sparrows, etc. Characteristic feature: several chambers for nesting. Subtypes have a clear distinction.

The third type includes artificial houses in which various new elements have been introduced. An example of such elements can be: houses for birds not described in the table; fastening points, etc. It is advisable to fill out the accompanying sheet of the house and new elements according to the sample. Subtypes have a clear distinction. It is allowed to use various new elements with a separate description of each.

The fourth type includes artificial houses that have different artistic designs, namely: painting, decoration with carvings, etc. Since the main dimensions do not change, the subtypes are clearly distinguished.

DESCRIPTION OF ARTIFICIAL HOUSES

Type I Standard artificial houses.

This type includes artificial houses intended for settlement by starlings and tits (birdhouses, titmice). They are the main type of artificial bird houses. They are not labor-intensive to manufacture, do not require high-quality wood or complex mechanical or manual processing. Convenient to transport and hang.

Both subtypes have the same basic design. The main differences are in the inhabitant, and as a result, in size. The name indicates for which inhabitants these artificial houses are mainly intended. But they can be inhabited not only by starlings and tits, but also by other birds of similar size and nesting in artificial nesting boxes. In this regard, it is difficult to draw a specific line between birdhouses and titmouses.

MAIN OPTIONS
In the manufacture of both subtypes, the main options are related to the fastening unit and the roof.
There are two types of fastening: with a double-sided pole (Fig. 1) and a one-sided pole (Fig. 2).
Fastening with a double-sided pole provides a more secure attachment to trees, walls, etc. It is easier to work with when hanging artificial houses.
Fastening with a one-sided pole is used for fastening artificial houses on poles, to increase the height of the artificial houses. When using this subtype of fastening, it is necessary to pay special attention to attaching the pole to the artificial house.
Roofs are mainly used in three types: flat (Fig. 3), inclined (Fig. 4), gable (Fig. 5).
The flat roof is simple and easy to manufacture and allows for cleaning of the house, which is extremely necessary after three to four years of its operation. Provides reliable protection of the taphole from precipitation. To attach the roof to the house, a roof lining is used, which fits quite tightly into the house. The roof is not attached to the house with nails.
The sloped roof is used for variety. More labor-intensive to manufacture. Does not reliably cover the entrance.
A gable roof provides better protection for the house from precipitation. During manufacturing, a metal overlay is required at the junction of the roof halves. When making a removable roof, the lining is attached to both halves.

MANUFACTURING

Having determined the type of artificial house that you are going to make, you begin marking.

The chamber must be of standard sizes and is taken from the table in accordance with the type of bird for which the nesting box is being built. When making variation houses, the chamber dimensions remain standard, plus additional allowances are added to them.

Example: choosing an artificial house with a sloping roof for a tit.
Front wall: 14+2 cm.
Back wall: 14 cm.
Side walls: 14+2 cm.
Roof: 240/(10+4) = H/C (142+22).

In the manufacture of standard artificial houses, there are many different methods associated with certain skills, available tools and materials. Let us present the basic manufacturing algorithm and analyze one of the methods.

Algorithm for making a standard artificial house.

1. Preparatory stage.
1. Choosing the type of standard artificial house.
2. Selection of materials for a standard artificial house.
3. Calculation of fragments of a standard artificial house (length, width).
4. Marking fragments of a standard artificial house.
2. Processing of parts of a standard artificial house.
3. Assembling a standard artificial house.

From my practice, I can recommend the following manufacturing method.
1.
1. We make a standard artificial house with a double-sided perch and a flat roof for a tit.
2. The material is 2 cm thick boards.
3. Bottom, roof lining 10x10 cm; side walls 20x10 cm; front and back walls 20x14 cm; roof 20x16 cm; taphole diameter 3.2 cm; the height of the center of the tap hole is 14 cm; pole 40x4x2 cm.
4. Marking is carried out on 4 boards. It is advisable to choose smooth boards to facilitate marking and processing. On the first board the bottom, roof lining, and side walls are marked. The front and back walls are marked on the second board, the roof is marked on the third board, and the pole is marked on the fourth board. To save materials, choose boards 5-10 mm wider than the width of the fragments. An allowance of 5-10 mm is left between the fragments for processing.
2. The boards are sawn into fragments according to the markings. By grinding the side edges and ends, they are brought to the desired size. A tap hole and holes for nails are drilled in the front wall.
3. Assembly is carried out in the following order: the pole is attached to the rear wall, the left and right walls are mounted to the rear wall, the front wall is mounted to the left and right walls, the bottom is adjusted and mounted, the lining is adjusted under the roof and mounted to the roof. If there are cracks, they are sealed with sawdust on PVA and covered with plasticine on top or painted over with oil-based, water-resistant green paints. If necessary, reinforce the seams. A stamp is made and attached to the side wall.

II type. Multi-family artificial houses.

Multi-family artificial houses are designed for birds that prefer to nest together (swallows). They are quite labor-intensive to manufacture and require careful processing. Special conditions for transportation are required. When hanging, experienced teams and at least two people for hanging are required.

Subtype Multi-storey.
It is a modified standard house. Simply put, it can be thought of as several birdhouses stacked on top of each other. Usually intended for two bird families.

In manufacturing it differs in the fastening of the intermediate bottom before fastening the front wall. Otherwise, the manufacturing process is similar to the manufacturing process of a standard house.
Subtype Multisection.
It is a modified standard house. Simply put, it can be thought of as several birdhouses connected to each other by side or back walls. The number of families is determined by the type of birds and the place of hanging.

In the manufacture of multi-section houses, the main load-bearing element is the bottom. The outer walls are common to most cells. When making them, it is advisable to use one board. Mounting points can be of two types: pendants on a wire (like a chandelier), or fastening with poles (1-2 or more, depending on the size of the house).

Head of the school forestry "Viking" - S. V. Sukhoruchenkov
Head of the forestry department - I. Tikhomirov
Smolensk region