When I'm sitting in the golf cart, they actually will hop into the cart and sometimes onto my lap looking for food! I always take some bread or seeds with me to feed them.

Kathy, Ollie and Chester

I didn't know you lived pretty close to us!We live in Tallahassee, my mom lives between us and Pensacola too:)

much bully love~Christine, Dupree, Marley and Savannah

a purple martin house,for a patient I was taking care of.. it was so hard for me.LOL..I'm challenged liked that..so, my fab husband came to the rescue and did it for us, the patient loved it!!He was right on a lake!

much bully love~Christine, Dupree, Marley and Savannah

as you say, they are very high, sitting atop a tall metal pole.

As for the wren houses, how do you keep squirrels from getting to them?





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And click here for puppy photos of Boo & Clovis:

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you can buy a purple martin house and put it up.
they are expensive in the beginning to get started
but they are totally awesome..
they house like 20 plus families of martins..
you can buy them at a feed store..a co op store or maybe even on the net..

it has to be a certain height..
the info is in the kit
i bought one of these for a fundraiser to use at our community center..
it had swallows the first year and every year after that...

if you are right on the Bay..the purple martin house is awesome..

I bought all mine from a hardware store, some from a feed store, some from a petstore.
ask for a WREN box..that is what they are called..
buy several of them..
put them high enough up a tree..about 10 feet if you can. some of my boxes are very low though and they still get used. some birds love to be high up..some love to be lower.
make sure they have a good hiding place if they need it.

try to nail them to a tree.

when you buy the boxes..make sure they have some good circulation in the box. put up the box and that is about it. only insect eating birds will use the birdbox..
you can get quite a variety with the standard box...the hole is very small..maybe an 1 inch and a quarter.

I would suggesting buying Tory Petersons Guide to the birds..
it is excellent and shows you all the type of birds.
field guide but excellent to have around..

once they start to come..they come back every year if they have a successful nesting and the next year they bring back their babies too..so you will have more families. I guess I have around 10 bird boxes or more out here..and everyone gets used every year..

any more questions??

How do I start? And with what? I live in the panhandle, between Tallahassee and Pensacola, right on the bay facing north, and I would LOVE to put up some birdhouses for anything that will be happy in this area and eat lots of mosquitoes! Do I hang the birdhouse high? or low? I wanted bats a while back and put up a special bat house....but it's still empty Birds are beautiful and anything that eats bugs is welcome at myhouse!


Mack's Mom .

put out some feathers. chicken feathers if you can find them..an old feather pillow works too..
they travels miles and miles to get feathers. they will come to your yard if you put some out. if you see them hanging around.toss a feather in the air and they will dive to catch them. they will play like this for a long time...it is neat.

if you are looking for other good insect eating bird. the balimore oriele.. put out some orange slices and pin them to a tree...they totally love oranges. when they are done they will leave and pick up insects in the meantime too. they are neat to watch and listen too.

all birds are neat in the sense that they need insects for their babies..when they are born. so I feed my birds all year long for that reason. they nest but they take the bugs when they leave. I control all my insects outside with the birds.

today infact I am putting out 2 pounds of peanuts on my grass. the crows come and eat the peanuts and take the grubs. they are nesting right now..early nesters. it works good too. once the food source is not their the crows will leave.

will post pics of the houses tomorrow
it is dark outside
and do not have any pics of my houses in my pics..lol
so will go out and take some pics tomorrow and post

catch other flying insects as well. the same as the tree swallow.
a tree swallow will come to your house very easily if you put up a birdhouse too. the same house as the wren...
they are great for all kinds of bugs.
most swallows feed at dusk when most of the bugs are out the worst.

Purple martins will come to a purple martin house....but they are very hard to attract to your home. they need their house a certain height and so on..and they need lots of swooping room.

they are beautiful to watch
thanks for sharing Gary

you can buy them at the hardware store. under 10 for 2 of them. hang them outside in a tree. since wasps are very territorial they will not come near your house with the fake nests up there..they work awesome. I have a large lot and litterally hundreds if not more wasps a year.
between the wrens and the fake nests..maybe see 10 a year if I am lucky.
I am inbetween...2 woodlots....and the fake nests are awesome as well to try. I hang a set in the front of the house and one set in the back of the house....
YOU NEED to put them out before the wasps start returning..so anytime NOW..lol is a good time to put out the nests.

the birds are not back until mid April here..
so you would need to put up a birdhouse soon too.

they also perform a magnificent aerial ballet as they dive bomb down towards the pond to get to the mosquitoes. Very impressive to watch. Huge flocks of them do the same at the end of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bridge, especially just before sunset. They are so popular that the local government built a viewing area for people to go watch.

Thanks for all the great info about wrens.





ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY ME ARE MY PROPERTY, ARE COPYRIGHTED UNDER FEDERAL LAW, AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT MY WRITTEN PERMISSION. ANY INCOME MADE OFF OF MY PHOTOS AT ANY TIME MUST BE IMMEDIATELY REMITTED TO ME.






And click here for puppy photos of Boo & Clovis:

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that way I will know what to look for at the feed store. Of course, I'm not even sure wrens show up this far south, so I need to find that out first.





ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY ME ARE MY PROPERTY, ARE COPYRIGHTED UNDER FEDERAL LAW, AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT MY WRITTEN PERMISSION. ANY INCOME MADE OFF OF MY PHOTOS AT ANY TIME MUST BE IMMEDIATELY REMITTED TO ME.






And click here for puppy photos of Boo & Clovis:

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as im allergic to bees!!! thanks for posting that.

very simple..
my birdhouses are very simple and serve better the more years they are used in row.
lots of the holes have been enlarged by woodpeckers over the years too.
I have a birdbox with holes that allow
for wrens, chickadees, woodpeckers, swallows and other small birds..
very simple..NOT a fashion statement..hahahahaha

How cool! I love Destin and the outlets!! I was about 15 minutes from Destin 2 weeks ago...There is a awesome animal refuge in Freeport that I went to and fostered a little dog for them:)I would def.love a bully playdate one day!

much bully love~Christine, Dupree, Marley and Savannah

feel free to come here. I'm just north of New Orleans. Only condition is you have to bring your bulldogs.





ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY ME ARE MY PROPERTY, ARE COPYRIGHTED UNDER FEDERAL LAW, AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT MY WRITTEN PERMISSION. ANY INCOME MADE OFF OF MY PHOTOS AT ANY TIME MUST BE IMMEDIATELY REMITTED TO ME.






And click here for puppy photos of Boo & Clovis:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glandry113

can't have the boxes looking too plain!





ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY ME ARE MY PROPERTY, ARE COPYRIGHTED UNDER FEDERAL LAW, AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT MY WRITTEN PERMISSION. ANY INCOME MADE OFF OF MY PHOTOS AT ANY TIME MUST BE IMMEDIATELY REMITTED TO ME.






And click here for puppy photos of Boo & Clovis:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glandry113

I had a girlfriend here that put out these really fancy birdboxes for the wrens and swallows.. georgous boxes but.........the woodpecker decided to move in and just made the holes bigger..the look of the fancy box was ruined.
just get a very simple cheap birdbox..they work fine..
thought I had better give you a heads up on this..

Hi, I'm in Destin! Great town to live in and dog friendly too! If you ever drive through, plan a stop and some bully play time here!


Mack's Mom .

would be cool to see one of them too

I think the roadrunner would be a better one, they are awesome.

Kathy, Ollie and Chester

never had an issue with squirrels and my birdboxes yet..
you can paint the inside white though and that helps to keep anything you do not want out of the box..

well most birds nest in the start of May..
so if you can get them up before that..great
some nest earlier then that but not most..

many birds have several families a year too..
and they use them again..in the same spot
put a few of them...and see what you get

no bird houses for hummingbirds
plant lots of lilies
I can not even put out a hummingbird feeder here anymore..to watch them
they only use MY flowers..

they love bleeding hearts and all lilies
a lily has enough food to last one hummingbird for the day...
the orientals are a favourite in the hummingbirds
purple and red petunias are good
they love flowers they can put their beeks into..

I usually only get one set of hummingbirds a year. they are very territorial and since I have so many flowers.they kinda fight to see who is getting to stay...here..lol.
I had one nest in a lilly flower the one year..in the base of the leaves..kinda neat and very delicate

any other questions ask..??

I would put out the boxes as soon as possible..for the birds

The backyard of our house is butted up to a wetland preserve and I can't wait to put up birdhouses to help with the mosquitos. I also can't wait to put up my humming bird feeders. I've already told the landscapers to put in plants tha will attract hummers. Are there humming bird houses? Will mid May be to late to put houses up? We close May 5th but the house will be finished late April so I can go out there and put them up once construction is finished.

Andre'a
~ Soon to be Momma of Frodo by rescue adoption in May!!

lucky you...
do not think we have them around here..
I am on the flypass so see lots of birds here..but never a cactus wren..even just passing through.

I had a hard time with mine too..got my sons to give me a hand at the community center when it was put up.
they are setup like an apartment dwelling...so like 20 pairs can fit into it.
they need to be cleaned out each year.
we painted all the compartments white..to keep out the starlings too..
but it did really really well
it is close to the lake but not right on the lake
purple martins live in colonies..the other swallows like the tree swallows are happy to be on their own. the barn swallow lives in colonies too and they will often come into a purple martin house too.