Birds nest boxes

Vespa crabro, the European hornet, and V. orientalis are the most important species of the genus Vespa in Europe, Asia and Africa, and V. crabro has also been imported in the USA. These species are much larger than other vespids (fig. 2e). They build their nest mostly above ground, in hollow tree trimks or in birds nest boxes. Stings occur almost exclusively near the nests. 

Artificial refuges nesting boxes for birds piles of stones and branches as places for insects, arachnids, small mammals and reptiles to spend the winter perches for birds of prey. 

Mammals are often overlooked for their pest-control abilities. For example, in Canadian forests, shrews control larch sawflies and other pests. Lizards and toads are important natural enemies of pest insects, and snakes can help control problems with mice and voles. In many communities in Europe and North America, farmers encourage birds to control pests by placing nesting boxes around their fields. Even domesticated animals can assist in pest control. If you have a small orchard and keep chickens, let the chickens feed in the orchard. They will peck pests such as plum curculios out of dropped fruit and other ground litter. 

If you have only a roof terrace or balcony and no room for trees or climbers, grow a mixture of flowering plants (with single flowers rather than double) to provide a source of nectar for insects such as butterflies, moths, and bees. You could also fill a shallow dish with water to make a bird bath, attach a lightweight bird feeder to a window, or fix a nesting box to a wall at least six feet off the ground. 

Watch your birds every day for signs of ill-health, for example, hens that keep their heads down, eyes closed or refuse to eat, drink, or lay. Check their feed and contact a vet if signs persist. Only treat birds for parasites, such as worms or lice, as they occur. If you are keeping chickens for their eggs, watch out for broody behavior—birds that are reluctant to leave their nest box or become angry when they are disturbed. Remove any eggs and shut them out of their nest box for a few days. 

Eggs of the louse were found attached to the base of feathers on the heads and necks of adult birds (Boyd, 1951). These eggs were removed and placed in covered, humidified petrl dishes. Adult fowl mites were collected from infested nest boxes by placing a strip of paper amidst a swarm of mites, allowing the mites to board the paper, then depositing the mites and paper into a vial. Upon return to the laboratory, the mites were transferred to covered, humidified petri dishes. 

Incorporation of artificial nest boxes in avian studies attracts cavity-nesting birds to the site and provides an easily monitored environment. Some species of birds are more easily examined from boxes than others. Blue birds and tree swallows tend to nest sporadically throughout a site, while starlings nest in groups and breed synchronously. Arrays of boxes can be set up on different sites in an area, thereby allowing birds to be monitored at the same time, which yields consistent changes of prey item differences within a season. Birds that do not breed synchronously can be useful in identifying exposure differences over time in the same area. 

Even if there are already many suitable nest sites, a bird box may encourage a normally shy species of bird to stay in your yard. Bird boxes can be made of untreated wood or "woodcrete" (a concrete/sawdust composition). The latter version is useful if your garden has predatory squirrels or even woodpeckers with a taste for young birds. All bird boxes should be positioned so that you can access them easily to clean them out in fall, which is important. Put your bird box on a sheltered wall or tree trunk, well away from predators, rain, and direct sunlight. Cats can climb up and reach into boxes from all sorts of unlikely angles, as can gray squirrels, so position the box carefully. 

Summing up the dynamical argument, telescopes reveal the architecture and motions of the cosmos on every scale. Planets, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies are nested one within the other like Chinese boxes. But then the need for dark matter suddenly arises. Without it, stars at the edge of our Galaxy would fly off and the swarms of galaxies in clusters would scatter like birds. 

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