About Birds Walking Down
It started as one more random project
I do a lot of random projects just because they seem fun. Some I never start, and some I abandon halfway through. About eight years ago, one of those projects was a birdhouse. I didn’t really know what I was doing and only had a few tools, but I finished it and put it on a bookshelf in the living room. As far as I was concerned, it was done, and I moved on to the next idea, a 3D printer.
For months, people kept asking me, “Are you going to put that birdhouse outside?” I kept saying yes and kept not doing it. Eventually I ran out of excuses and hung it up. On a whim, I put a wireless camera inside.
Within an hour, birds were moving in
I couldn’t believe it. I was watching on my phone as Carolina Chickadees and Eastern Bluebirds checked out the box, even though at the time I didn’t know what kind of birds they were. Soon I had cameras on the deck and at the feeder too, and I started collecting clips to put together for YouTube.
The bluebirds built a nest and laid one little blue egg, then another each day until there were five. Seeing what normally stays hidden inside a nest box felt like magic. The eggs hatched, the parents fed the babies nonstop, and the babies grew like crazy.
The lesson that changed everything
As summer heated up, the babies started looking distressed. They held their mouths open and spread out in the nest. I didn’t know what was normal, so I didn’t think much of it. Then one baby died, and the mother carried it out of the nest. Then another, until only one was left. That last one did well, and my outside camera caught it flying away, a fluffy little blue bird heading out into the world.
Afterward, I started reading about birdhouse design and realized my box had no ventilation. The babies had died because it got too hot inside. It was upsetting to know I had caused that, and I wanted to fix it.
About 300 birdhouses later
So I built another box, this time with ventilation. The next one had a 3D-printed camera shelf. The one after that had a new roof design to keep the heat down even more. I kept going, and by now I’ve built around 300 birdhouses. They’re at my house, my mom’s house, my friends’ houses, and anywhere else someone will take one, and they all have cameras. Some have three.
Those cameras have shown me some joyful moments. I’ve watched babies tumble out of their eggs with a parent waiting right there with food. I’ve seen parents bring in bugs so huge I couldn’t believe a baby could eat them, like cicadas and even praying mantises, and somehow the babies always choke them down.
The boxes in this shop
Every nest box I sell carries what I learned along the way. It’s built from natural cedar with ventilation and a roof designed to keep nestlings cooler, a taller interior that keeps the nest farther from predators, and a shelf for a Blink camera so you can watch it all happen yourself. I build each one by hand, so quantities are limited and no two are exactly alike.
I used to feel bad about my impulsive, random projects. This one taught me that sometimes they turn out better than anything I could have planned.
You can watch the birds raised in these boxes on the Birds Walking Down YouTube channel. Questions? Email me at birds@walkingdown.com.