Boy Birdhouse Architecture by Leon H. Baxter is a free public domain title that helps you build dozens of birdhouse boxes and feeders for a variety of common birds. (Of course, these days we can include girls!) This guide for building birdhouses and feeders encourages children to observe and care for local birds.
To the lover of the open, the woods, the fields, and waterways and all of God’s wild things, this book is affectionately dedicated.
To lead the boy and girl toward their proper relationship with their feathered friends of the air, and to instil the feeling of protection toward our native birds, these pages have been written and these designs made.
What is offered between the covers of this little book is the results of study and observation of birds and their ways covering a period of six years.
Each drawing offered is of a proven house, one that has served as a home for some of our songsters and if the directions, here set down, are faithfully followed, equal success will crown the builders’ efforts.
The author obviously enjoys his work! By study and observation, he explains why we might want to befriend the birds. For one thing, birds often return to places where humans have provided for them.
After detailing traits about a few common birds, the author then moves on to building the houses, including:
- Choosing the exterior material (bark preferred).
- Specifications for birdhouses fitting 25 different types of birds.
- Considering the enemies of birds.
- General instructions.
- Winter care.
- Birdhouse plans.
- Ideas for holding a birdhouse building contest.
The houses have been built by pupils in the 7th to 8th grades with 75% success…over 100 years ago. An intuitive guess would be that pupils today might find it a bit of a challenge depending on their background and skills. Nevertheless, here is a great way to build up those practical skills!
Boy Birdhouse Architecture by Leon H. Baxter makes it easy to add birding to your DIY nature mix…and it is free!
Free eBook
- Read online
- Various formats (Kindle, EPUB)
Suggestions
Have your children do one or more of the following:
- Pick a particular bird to study (preferably one that is featured in the book). What are its habits, feeding preferences, etc.?
- Fill out a notebooking page with this information.
- Depending on age, begin building a new house or feeder for the bird of interest.
- Set up a way to watch the bird. How often does he visit? It is one male or female? How can you tell? Any sign that a nest is being built? If so, when do you see eggs? (Be careful not to disturb the nest or eggs.)
- Keep a journal of bird sightings.
Additional Resources
Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States by Thomas G. Gentry provides a unique look at nests and eggs of birds in their natural setting. We have created a complete 50-week series of lessons using this book to learn about 50 birds, covering one bird each week.
Our free nature studies that go along with the book Our Wonderful World by Emery Lewis Howe include a nice section on birds!
Bird Index
All of our birding resources.
Keep Reading
Free Nature Studies: Landlord to the Birds
Landlords to the birds provide shelter, a place to bathe, and food in the winter. Unit resources.
Bird Houses Boys Can Build {Free eBook}
Not our favorite recommendation for birdhouse plans, but if you are looking for a free option, Bird Houses Boys Can Build gets the job…
Activity: Make a Bird Feeder
It’s nearly winter! Time to consider putting up a bird feeder for that extra energy in times of temperature extremes.