Topic: birds
In Spring 2006 I hung a bird house in the Hungarian lilac. I did this because some chickadees had moved into the swallow house above our kitchen window that had been used by tree swallows for many years. When the tree swallows arrived, and saw that the house was in use, I was distraught.
Turns out that the swallows did not nest in our yard that year or this. But the chickadees successfully fledged from the swallow house in 2006, and the house in the Hungarian Lilac in 2007. In midsummer 2007 I found the Hungarian Lilac house on the ground - it had fallen partially apart.
So finally I put the house back together and hung it today. I figure they might be able to use it for shelter this winter.
Incidentally, the next in the swallow house was made entirely of moss, like something in a fairy tale. This year the next was made of moss in the lowest layer, but then on top was gray cat hair (from the neighbor cat fights) and bits of yellow fiberglass. Not as charming, but functional apparently.
