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Ontario’s Birdhouse City
Dozens of birdhouses with whimsical and functional designs
© Rod Brazier
Driving down a country road in eastern Ontario, there’s a surprising sight by the roadside: dozens of vibrantly coloured, eclectic birdhouses sitting atop 12-foot poles. It’s called Birdhouse City, and it’s in a conservation area boasting close to 100 birdhouses, with 30 under renovation. The initial birdhouse designs were based on nearby historical buildings, from the general store to the courthouse. About a third of them are occupied, with several species reliably taking up residence.
BirdNote®
Ontario’s Birdhouse City
Written by Cristina Petrucci
This is BirdNote.
Driving down a country road in eastern Ontario, there’s a surprising sight by the roadside: dozens of vibrantly coloured, eclectic birdhouses sitting atop 12-foot poles.
Alan Hurst lives nearby and is one of nine core volunteers maintaining these birdhouses.
Alan Hurst: They’re historical. They’re whimsical, and they’re functional.
It’s called Birdhouse City, and it’s in a conservation area boasting close to 100 birdhouses, with 30 under renovation.
Alan Hurst: It started in 1980 with one birdhouse, and the goal was to attract Purple Martins to the area.
[Purple Martin calls]
The initial birdhouse designs were based on nearby historical buildings, from the general store to the courthouse. It now features a helicopter and a caboose birdhouse, and many more. About a third of them are occupied, with several species reliably taking up residence.
Alan Hurst: Purple Martins, wrens, bluebirds…
[Eastern Bluebird song]
Alan Hurst: …chickadees and Tree Swallows are the most common.
[Tree Swallow calls]
The operations team brought together 20-30 additional volunteers for hands-on tasks.
Alan Hurst: These volunteers are really the heart and soul because they're actually doing the work. And these birdhouses when you take them down, some may need a coat of paint and some varnish, others needed to be completely rebuilt.
And Alan says community support has kept growing.
Alan Hurst: There is always somebody now walking around there — multiple groups on weekends, which is great and that wasn’t happening before.
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Purple Martin ML107431 and Eastern Bluebird ML534419 recorded by Wil Hershberger, and Tree Swallow ML564155331 recorded by Jeff Ellerbusch.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Field recordings by Cristina Petrucci.
© 2023 BirdNote December 2023
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# birdhousecity-01-2023-12-01 birdhousecity-01
Cristina Petrucci
Writer Producer
Ariana Remmel
NarratorSights & Sounds
