Free Sample
The Complete Handbook of Bird & Wildlife House Accessories
A practical field reference for professionals, retailers, and serious enthusiasts who build, install, sell, or maintain bird and wildlife houses and their accessories.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: Understanding Bird & Wildlife House Accessories
The Working Definition: Accessories as a Functional System
A bird house is a box with a hole. It becomes a functional nesting site only when its accessories solve the real-world problems of predation, weather, competition, and access. This handbook treats bird and wildlife house accessories not as decorative add-ons but as the critical components that determine whether a nest box is used, whether the young fledge, and whether you - the installer or maintainer - can do your job efficiently.
Consider a typical scenario. A novice installs a wooden bluebird box on a fence post in an open field. He does not install a predator guard, does not add ventilation, and uses a nail to fix the box in place. Within a month, a house sparrow has claimed the box, or a raccoon has reached in and destroyed the eggs. The novice declares the box a failure. But the box has not failed - the accessory package failed. The house sparrow could not have been excluded without a correctly sized hole plate or an entrance tunnel. The raccoon would have been stopped by a properly mounted conical baffle. The nest would have had a better chance of surviving hot afternoons with additional ventilation slots near the top of the box. In bird house design, the box is the shell, but the accessories are the immune system, the climate control, and the security system.
The category is broader than most people assume. It