Every year I hang flower baskets off the back deck, filled with coir, that coconut fiber. Every year, the birds rob the coir for their nests. This year, I hung a net bag of it for their convenience, hoping they will finish nesting before I put out my flowers. Just for fun, I added a variety of yarn ends to it, so the birds in my neighborhood will have the coolest , most colorful nests in town.
Among our birdhouses, we have two ceramic ones from
magnificent potter Douglas Fey. (Check out his website!) Both have been up for an entire season now, and this morning, a chickadee was investigating the fish, and not for the first time. So I primed the pump, so to speak, with a little coir and a nice blue piece of soft cashmere.
We have another Fey birdhouse, his interpretation of a pelican, my all-time favorite bird. Al and I go down to the Rogue River frequently, and I just cannot get enough of these awesome birds. I’ve resisted collecting little pelican things, though, as I’m not a collector, but when I saw what Doug Fey does with all the rest of his critters, I had to ask him to make me a pelican. I haven’t seen any birds looking into this guy’s mouth yet, though, but I gave prospective tenants a nice bit of curly straw and a length of turquoise silk to tempt them with.
I hope they find our housing suitable. That would be great fun.