A project for the birds
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:23 pm
Hello fellow woodworkers!
I'm a new member to this forum and I'm currently working on refurbishing a shopsmith mark 2. Though new to shopsmith, I'm not new to woodworking. I have looked through some of the projects posted (there's a lot of great talent!) and posts requesting ideas for projects. This project was not done using a shopsmith, so I hesitated posting. Hopefully it will be well received by the community.
I have been interested in birds for several years. My interest was first piqued by hummingbirds; often called the "gems of the skies." I have been diligent in maintaining my feeders for them and have thoroughly enjoyed their beauty. I've learned they make tiny nests (around 1.5 to 3 inches wide) for their eggs and rearing their young. Through my research, I discovered that some people have made nest platforms for these birds- so being a woodworker and bird lover, i made one myself. I am going to describe this platform as maybe this will serve as inspiration for some forum members.
This nest platform does not have a roof over the cup/horizontal surface, as that would potentially inhibit their flight- however, there is a bit of roof at the back- which is providing some protection over the wire mesh. Behind the wire mesh is nesting materials for the birds and is meant to be kept somewhat dry for them. These birds use twigs, moss, string/thread, lichen, spider webs, etc to construct their nests. The wire mesh is held in place with some wire, and it can be removed, restocked and replaced as needed. I've used some d-rings on the back, and lengths of wire- this is meant to help secure the platform to a tree. I used a forstner bit to cut a small circle into the surface so the nest can sit in the cup. In the center of the cup, I drilled a small hole which is meant to serve as a drainage hole. I took 2 bolts (because they'd have a finer thread) and I ground the sides of the heads of the bolts (in one of the pics you can see one is ground down and the other wasn't yet altered). These are meant to be anchoring posts (a replacement for the twigs/ tree branches they'd normally use)for the nest as hummingbirds like to use spiderwebs (usually attached to twigs/tree branches) in their construction for elasticity (which provides a helpful stretch when the babies start to grow). I used a bit of walnut around the edges. This was meant to provide a sort of landing perch, as well as a further back-up support for the nest and babies.
I'm a new member to this forum and I'm currently working on refurbishing a shopsmith mark 2. Though new to shopsmith, I'm not new to woodworking. I have looked through some of the projects posted (there's a lot of great talent!) and posts requesting ideas for projects. This project was not done using a shopsmith, so I hesitated posting. Hopefully it will be well received by the community.
I have been interested in birds for several years. My interest was first piqued by hummingbirds; often called the "gems of the skies." I have been diligent in maintaining my feeders for them and have thoroughly enjoyed their beauty. I've learned they make tiny nests (around 1.5 to 3 inches wide) for their eggs and rearing their young. Through my research, I discovered that some people have made nest platforms for these birds- so being a woodworker and bird lover, i made one myself. I am going to describe this platform as maybe this will serve as inspiration for some forum members.
This nest platform does not have a roof over the cup/horizontal surface, as that would potentially inhibit their flight- however, there is a bit of roof at the back- which is providing some protection over the wire mesh. Behind the wire mesh is nesting materials for the birds and is meant to be kept somewhat dry for them. These birds use twigs, moss, string/thread, lichen, spider webs, etc to construct their nests. The wire mesh is held in place with some wire, and it can be removed, restocked and replaced as needed. I've used some d-rings on the back, and lengths of wire- this is meant to help secure the platform to a tree. I used a forstner bit to cut a small circle into the surface so the nest can sit in the cup. In the center of the cup, I drilled a small hole which is meant to serve as a drainage hole. I took 2 bolts (because they'd have a finer thread) and I ground the sides of the heads of the bolts (in one of the pics you can see one is ground down and the other wasn't yet altered). These are meant to be anchoring posts (a replacement for the twigs/ tree branches they'd normally use)for the nest as hummingbirds like to use spiderwebs (usually attached to twigs/tree branches) in their construction for elasticity (which provides a helpful stretch when the babies start to grow). I used a bit of walnut around the edges. This was meant to provide a sort of landing perch, as well as a further back-up support for the nest and babies.