I'm in Australia. My house is on the side of a hill, and the back boundary is a rock cliff about 12 feet high. Beyond that is light bushland going on up to the top of the hill. The bushes and trees that were planted in the yard years ago have flourished and now form many pleasant pockets of space that attract all the local birds.
I've set up two small bird baths against the back cliff, partly sheltered by overhanging branches. All the birds love it. Every day, I see magpies, crows, and a bird whose species I don't know the name of, coming to the baths and splashing around in them, and drinking from them. I also get beautiful lorikeets. It's an absolute treat and I'm thinking I'd like to try to attract even more birds.
At one time I thought of building a very large aviary, approx 12 feet square, against the cliff face, and stocking it with different birds that I could watch every day. I have unused area of land available for it.
But then I thought, why not build the aviary, but not enclose it? That is, put up four posts in a square, and just put a corrugated plastic roof over it, and then have various bits of dowel etc set in upright posts for birds to land. To top it off, a very large bath of water for them. (See the pic for a very rough plan. Think "greenhouse without walls). I would hang seed blocks from some of the small posts, placed so they can't get rained on.
So, what do you think? Would it work?
I've set up two small bird baths against the back cliff, partly sheltered by overhanging branches. All the birds love it. Every day, I see magpies, crows, and a bird whose species I don't know the name of, coming to the baths and splashing around in them, and drinking from them. I also get beautiful lorikeets. It's an absolute treat and I'm thinking I'd like to try to attract even more birds.
At one time I thought of building a very large aviary, approx 12 feet square, against the cliff face, and stocking it with different birds that I could watch every day. I have unused area of land available for it.
But then I thought, why not build the aviary, but not enclose it? That is, put up four posts in a square, and just put a corrugated plastic roof over it, and then have various bits of dowel etc set in upright posts for birds to land. To top it off, a very large bath of water for them. (See the pic for a very rough plan. Think "greenhouse without walls). I would hang seed blocks from some of the small posts, placed so they can't get rained on.
So, what do you think? Would it work?