For my project, I built a bird house in a suburban style. The bird house has a moving front door, and a back panel that can be opened as well, so that the user can reach in and remove any nests at the end of the season. Additionally, I decided to put fabric over the window so that light can still shine into the bird house, without there being a large hole where other unwanted animals could come in. In terms of the aesthetic style, I decided that I wanted to design the bird house like a suburban home, with a white picket fence and green walls, and a brown roof. I think the suburban bird house will look great in my parents back yard, as it has a similar style to their home as well.

Above is the prototype I make in SolidWorks. The prototype does not feature a door, but the back panel opens up to reveal the inside of the bird house. This is a feature of my actual design, so that the user can clean out the bird house at the end of the season. My idea of a bird house came from the example below. I thought the green bird house looked cute, and had a lot of the features I was looking for. My design does not feature leaves, but I wanted my design to look similar in a lot of other respects.

In terms of the dimensions of the bird house, I decided to make the bird house for the bird breed, “Pygmy Nuthatch”, as they are common in the area that my parents live, which is located in Colorado. As such, the interior is 5.5 inches in length, 5.5 inches in width, and has a height of 8 inches inside. Additionally, the entrance hole has a 1.1 inch radius, which is the proper size for a Pygmy Nuthatch. I plan to have the bird house mounted on a wooden post at my parents house. The wooden post will also provide protection from squirrels, as they will be unable to get around the base of the bird house as they climb the post.

My final product can be seen above. I would consider my bird house to be a preliminary success, as it looks great and every component functions as desired. Whether or not the birds will agree with my assessment is yet to be seen, but I plan to give an update once I put the bird house up in my parents’ backyard.

The design features a functional front and back door, as seen in the pictures, and has fabric over the window which should allow light and airflow in. While spray painting the outside of the bird house green, some paint got inside the bird house and muddled up the interior design. However, my hope is that the future residents will not be too picky of the interior design, and can renovate the interior as they see fit. Additionally, I put shingles on the roof. From the picture above, you might notice that the top shingle does not sit flat. However, with sunlight and natural heating, this shingle should sit flat within a weeks time, which should help clean up the look of the roof nicely. I will post a follow-up post soon regarding how I made the bird house, but overall I’m really happy with how it turned out.