One of my summer aspirations was to put up a birdhouse with Ursula. It was my latest dad and daughter project. We talked about it for weeks, did some research and then picked up a beautiful purple martin house three weeks ago. Last weekend Ursula and I went to the lumber yard, bought a big post, painted it and then got ready to put it up on Sunday.
At this point, the thing was so huge that I needed to ask my neighbors for help and Ursula got to sit back and watch. Following are the pics that tell the story. The birdhouse is from Lazy Hill Farm and Ursula put presents in the rooms and filled some of them with lavender to make it nicer for the birds.
This is all the pieces of the birdhouse.
When we put it together, Ursula put lavender in some of the rooms.
Waiting to go up on Sunday, with the 4' hole already dug.
Four of us scrambling to keep it from falling after standing it up.
Using a lasso to try to steady the top of the house. It weighed over 150 pounds!
Lowering it into the hole.
Our neighbor, Jim, happy that we got it into the hole without losing anyone.
Ursula climbs up to take a peek.
All done!
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Beautiful! If I were a purple martin, I'd move right in!
view mirandabee's profile
Pretty. Purple Martins are very, very picky. Oddly, they rely almost completely on people for their housing. The houses must be cleaned weekly and the human caretakers must be extremely vigilant to keep out other birds; particularly starlings. In winter, the openings need to be blocked to keep other birds from moving in. This house looks like it will be a little difficult for the human house keepers to maintain. Good luck and buy a really tall ladder.
view Jts's profile
Great job! Ursula looks like she approves.
view JR in Sweden's profile
cool - it's huge! I didn't realize how big it was from the first photo alone. btw - Ursula is such a cutie!
view lexinchicago's profile
Yes, NOW they rely almost completely on humans for housing since they are very picky about nesting sites and the starlings that more aggressively take their nesting spots are not native to the Western hemisphere.
Purple Martin houses are typically mounted on a pole such that a pulley and rope can be used to raise and lower the entire house for winter cleaning.
view charmac's profile
adorable! reminds me of my childhood- we had a similar purple martin house in our backyard. :)
http://cozylittlcave.blogspot.com
view CozyLittleCave's profile
Nice birdhouse and project, but I'm really impressed that you know how to use a lasso.
view BruceS63's profile
We had a similar purple martin house as kids. It was set about 20 feet from our trampoline and the martins would divebomb us when we got too loud and jumpy. I guess they really wanted their peace and quiet.
view LSUgrad03's profile