Hardly Empty Nesters

No, we don't have any children living at home, but we don't actually consider ourselves "empty nesters." For you see, we spend an inordinate amount of time making Farm Dover attractive to nesters of all sorts, especially the winged sort.  

From feeders to birdbaths, from native plants to standing snags, from protecting our night sky to promoting a plethora of tasty caterpillars, we do all we can to encourage birds to call Farm Dover "home". 

And our efforts seem to be paying off. To date, we have identified 87 species of birds that we have spotted on our 40 acres. Some make their home here year-round; others just stop by for a rest in their migration. 

We try to make their stay as pleasant as possible. Ed is constantly refilling bird feeders and suet cages. Our two birdbaths are cleaned and filled regularly. We have a dozen or so bluebird houses for our feathered friends. And, as of tomorrow, we will have gourd birdhouses hung around our meadows and woodlands in move-in-ready condition for purple martins, swallows, chickadees, wrens, woodpeckers, titmice and nuthatches.  

Back in the fall, Ed set his sights on finding bottle gourds (Lagenaria sacraria) at a Farmers' Market to use for birdhouses. Much to his dismay, he could not find any and so I promised to grow some for him in my 2024 garden. Then, two days before Christmas, Maggie saw a listing on Facebook Marketplace for 8 gourds. She made a roundtrip to Corydon, IN to purchase them. He was delighted with his gift.

We hung the gourds to dry in our basement. Weeks later, we could tell by shaking them that they were fully dried and ready for their transition to birdhouses. Ed drilled a 1.5 inch hole in the center of the belly of the gourds, then four small drainage holes in the bottom of each, and two small holes in the top of the necks for hanging. He carefully extracted the fluff and seeds from the insides. 

 

I soaked and scrubbed the gourds before threading a rope between the two hanging holes. Tomorrow, we will install them. And then we will sit back and wait and see who moves in.