Newell Farms (NC) Bluebird Houses
jb...@usa.com
seen areas in my neighborhood that are just ideal for bluebird houses
(after all, if the pair here are successful, their offspring will need
nesting places next year, right?) but my son told me Saturday that he'd
seen a rather frantic Tufted Titmouse with a beak full of nesting
material checking out one of my empty flowerpots.
I've got some books and downloaded plans for building birdhouses, but I
just don't have any experience working with wood and no time to learn
right now. I was a little put off by the prices at the local wild bird
supplies stores and I know better than to buy that cedar deathtrap junk
at Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc.
Earlier this year I had done a bit of web surfing, starting with some
links that were posted here in rec.birds, and found my way to the South
Alabama Birding Association website and ordered two of their houses. (2
for $20 and that included shipping.) At first, I was pleased but the
more I read...
The SABA houses don't have any side ventilation, only a ventilation slot
below the roof in front. I thought about taking them down after the
first broods fledge and drilling some ventilation holes on the sides,
but there's no roof overhang on the sides. These are the same houses
that SABA uses on their bluebird trails and I thought it got pretty hot
in Alabama, but I *know* how wicked hot it gets here. I decided that the
SABA boxes will be fine for first broods, but I'll need to put them away
and put up some different boxes for subsequent broods.
Last month one of the local news stations did a bit on a wildlife
rehabilitator in Warren County, NC who was building bluebird houses and
selling them at cost. I just caught the tail-end of the newscast but the
station's website had his name and number so I gave him a call Saturday
and made arrangements to drive up there Sunday.
After lunch, my kids and I took a 50 mile road trip to see Frank
Newell's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It took an hour and half to get
there over country roads, but was it ever worth it.
First of all, he's one of the nicest people I've ever met. He's licensed
on both the federal and state levels as a wildlife rehabilitator and I
believe he's still employed by the USDA as a Wildlife Specialist, but it
seems much of the work he does is "on the side". (People see an injured
animal or bird and call Frank.) He and his wife (also a licensed
rehabber) spend around $12k a year of their own money on food and
medical care for the animals they rescue and treat. I thought the
newscast said something about the money made from the sale of the
birdhouses went toward rehab efforts, but Frank said he sells those at
cost because he wants to get the houses out there "for the bluebirds".
He's passionately dedicated to that cause, let me tell you.
Secondly, he builds the finest bluebird houses I've ever seen and sells
them at an amazing price. The houses are built of one inch heart pine.
The roof hangs over one inch on the sides and two inches in front.
There's a metal predator guard around the entry hole and grooves on the
inside front door (which swings smoothly open for monitoring, of course)
to help the chicks climb out. These nestboxes are *SOLID* and he sells
them for $7. The seconds, most of which have minor defects like
knotholes on the underside of the roof, go for $5. When you consider
that I'd have to pay at least $25 here in the city for one nestbox of
lesser quality, you can probably understand why I was so excited. (And
why I bought, um, six of them. And will probably go back next month and
buy more.)
In the last but definitely not least category of why the trip was
worthwhile, Frank gave us a tour of his farm. Not only does he have more
nesting bluebirds than you can shake a stick at (apparently these birds
hadn't heard they were supposed to be nesting 100 yards apart), we got
to see several bobcats, a timber wolf, a coyote, an utterly magnificent
red-tailed hawk (only from a distance; he's recuperating from a broken
wing and will be released when it's healed), some South American critter
whose name I can't recall but it looked like a giant guinea pig, a baby
snapping turtle, four Canada goose eggs in an incubator, and two
white-tailed deer.
So if anyone is looking for good quality, low-priced nextboxes sold by
someone who cares about birds more than making a profit, here's my
recommendation:
Newell Wildlife Rehabilitation Farms Center
Route 4 Box 709
Warrenton, NC 27589
Phone: (252) 257-1754
--
Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes
unheralded by the return of the return of the birds, and the early
mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the
beauty of bird song. --Rachel Carson, Silent Spring