— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
I have no idea who is hanging all these yellow birdhouses around town, but it sure does strike me as a neat project. Just building birdhouses, climbing trees and telephone poles, and nailing 'em up. But, why? Just on a whim? To hang up some nice street art with an actual purpose? Get a master's degree? To give our tough winged S.O.B.s a little shelter? To get tweeted about?
Regardless of the reasons why, I've spotted a solid half-dozen of this birdhouses get hung up around the Mission and SOMA over the past few weeks. From the photo above, left to right, top to bottom:
- Corner of 21st and Valencia
- The abandoned gas station at 23rd and Valencia
- Corner of 23rd and Valencia
- Outside Homestead at 19th and Folsom
- Corner of 22nd and Shotwell
- Corner of 4th and Bryant
Has anyone noticed these houses outside these areas? More importantly, anyone come across birds using them and/or feral cats hanging around?
Comments (14)
How are the gorillas supposed to fit into those tiny birdhouses?
Uh oh, this might be a well-intentioned but bad idea. These houses could lure birds to areas that are not particularly hospitable to birds. (Or, of course, they could do the opposite – luring birds to areas that are very hospitable indeed. It all depends on how much food is available, and how many predators like cats and hawks.)
These kind of look the same as the birdhouses in http://missionmission.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/the-story-behind-the-bird…
There’s someone in Denmark who has put up birdhouses too, http://www.myspace.com/250birdhouses
Then there was a guy who put up birds/berds, http://www.laweekly.com/2007-01-04/columns/berd-on-a-wire/
It’s a public rogue art project that a friend of a friend is doing. There’s one across the st from Shotwell’s too.
San Francisco Guerilla artist creates refuge for birdpocalypse
BIRDS WILL FALL
What a great project! That’s terrific!
check out: www.urbanbirdhouses.com. It’s a map of all the birdhouses that up. Looks like there are over 20!
I think this is great! And, there is one right outside of the T-Mobile store on Market and Powell.
And, there is one on Market at 3rd, by the Lens Crafters, La Boulange and the Hearst Bldg.
Our cat would like to request one to be placed on the pole outside of our house.
Here’s one right outside my window at Chronicle Books on 2nd @ Townsend:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=497914618440&set=a.87699873440.75…
So far no one’s moved in…
These are really cute, but bird houses with perches are a no-no for many of our local cavity-nesting birds. They don’t need perches to get in or out of their house- it just makes it easier for predators to eat their eggs or babies.
I have hung up birdhouses in Milwaukee….