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A walk in a forest has many benefits – it gives a chance to enjoy the silence, and to observe wildlife all around you. If you are attentive enough then you might have noticed birdhouses in the middle of nowhere of forest. The meaning of their location in the thickets of forest is explained to the Mammadaba Twitter contest winners by Aigars Kalvāns, the expert of JSC “Latvijas valsts meži".

“The main reason why birdhouses are put in forest is to control the outbreak of pests in specific locations. Putting birdhouses in locations where bird population density is not that high solves the mentioned problem” says Aigars. For specific rare species – the European Roller – birdhouses provide better living conditions than in natural environment, thus favouring the nesting success.

Birds use their houses in the period from April till August when they build their nests, but in autumn, most of the birds migrate to south, but Great Tit moves to populated areas where they can find bird feeders. Birdhouses in forest are left empty, which is the best time to survey them – cleaning, setting up and monitoring.

The small cavity nesting birds (Tits (Paridae), European Pied Flycatcher) does not clean their nests, but build a new nest over the old one. Over the years the nest is so full of materials that it needs a cleaning. If it is not cleaned, then birds can become an easy prey, for example, for martens or pests can invade the nest.

The expert together with contest winners surveyed fifteen birdhouses. They found the nests of the European Pied Flycatcher, nests of Tits, but found some empty birdhouses as well.

Several new birdhouses were set up ensuring a nesting place for some bird in the next season. The classic birdhouses were set up for Tits and European Pied Flycatcher, but for bigger birds other types of birdhouses were created to suit their needs. For instance, the classic birdhouse protects birds against martens, which consider birdhouses as their feeders.

Very important is the distance between birdhouses – if they are set up too densely then birds will not live in them. Each bird needs his territory, thus, birdhouses should be placed with at least 50 m distance between them.

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At the end of the day, the winner of Mammadaba twitter contest Ieva is satisfied – “We were lucky that the trip was together with an expert who did not only tell much about birdhouses and birds, but also ensured the practical part and taught us the cleaning and setting up of birdhouses. Now I can use this knowledge at my own countryside property”.