Bird Nesting Platform Design seems easy enough ... as long as one dismisses the climbing prowess of the Gray Rat Snake. There are many free plans online which require little more than a bit of lumber, a saw, screws and screwdriver. Many websites provide mounting instructions on exterior walls of a house/barn, tree, or fence post.
All it took for me to re-think bird nesting platform design was to hear the screams coming from my friend, Debbie, as she ran back into the house one evening after making a trip to the outside trash can. Climbing vertically, above the trash can, two mature Gray Rat Snakes were inching their way to a bird nesting platform filled with Eastern Phoebe nestlings.
Rat Snakes are incredible climbers -- even straight up a brick wall. The snake in the photo below has reached the top of a 14' high brick wall. Over the years following the trash can incident, I made many attempts to protect the Phoebe nest. The second photo shows the final collage of plastic correlated sheets, duct tape, strategically-placed boards, and even tack strips. Sane people wouldn't attach such a mess to their house -- and -- even with all these measures, the snakes seemed to find a flaw at least once a year.
Gray Rat Snake Climbs 14' Up a Brick Wall
Nesting Platform With a Collage of Snake Defense Barriers
And then ... it hit me ...
What if a bird nesting platform was mounted on a soffit or exterior ceiling -- away from all walls?
I went to work on a design. I downloaded a well-documented Phoebe nesting platform plan by Uncle Dave. Since rain run-off wasn't an issue under the eave where the platform would be mounted, I modified the plan to incorporate a flat roof with a long, rear extension. Next was the construction of a "dock" the roof extension would slide into (snuggly) and could be permanently mounted to the ceiling. Finally, I attached a female threaded piece to the bottom of the platform. This would make it possible to mount/unmount the platform from the dock using a male-threaded extension pole. I painted the bottom of the dock white so it would blend with the soffit when no platform was installed.
I am still waiting on an opinion from a local expert on how snake-proof this design is, but I can't envision a snake clinging to a brick wall and then extending out 18" from the wall to reach the platform. As has been well-documented, however, I am dumber than every species of wildlife on this property. We'll see.
The Pictures Show the Finished Platform
Finished Phoebe Platform
Platform Ceiling Dock
Phoebe Platform: Docked
Platform Install/Test
Last year Momma Phoebe started laying eggs the day after the prior brood fledged, so I was ready. The day the camera-nesting Phoebes fledged, I was on a ladder removing all of the mess the Phoebes and I had created over the years. The new dock and platform installed easily. Now, all that was left was to wait and see if the Phoebe pair would adopt it.
The pair checked out the platform almost immediately and, within days, began nest building. One week later, Momma Phoebe was incubating eggs in her new home.
Phoebe Checking Out New Platform
Phoebe Adopts New Platform
Postscript
Today marks one year after my friend, Debbie, passed away. I'm thinking she might not appreciate the fact that this anniversary post talks about snakes, but I am certain we both would have loved it if we could have worked on designing, and building, this new platform together.