Romance In The Secret Garden…..A Nostalgic Dovecote!

No, not that kind of romance in the Secret Garden….the bird kind of romance.

You see, I have always loved Dovecotes!

Dovecote, you say?

Yep, those beautiful round nostalgic bird houses.

You might say….and you would be right, those small entry holes are too small for a pigeon. I know, because in my youth, I raised pigeons with the help of my grandfather.

Even though the definition of a dovecote is a shelter for pigeons….they are being made for smaller birds, like bluebirds, which is what I am trying to attract.

I found several dovecote type bird houses on line…some with a redwood roof and some with a bright shiny copper roof.

I love them both. The attraction for me with the copper roof dovecote, is to watch the copper age and turn that beautiful verdigris green much like the Statue of Liberty.

On the other hand, there is the redwood roof which will age that wonderful grayish hue like most redwood fences.

Choices! Choices! Choices!

But the real question is which would the little bluebirds prefer?

First let us talk about bluebirds.

Did you know that bluebirds are not blue? According to my Peterson Field Guide to Birds:

“Blue birds are not actually blue. The bird’s wings are often caused not by pigment, but by the way light waves interact with the feather.”

Tell that to my eyes as they admired the small finch-sized mountain bluebirds of New Mexico when I lived there in the mountains. They were the most brilliant shade of turquoise, much like the mined turquoise jewelry of the Southwest.

I raised mountain bluebirds when living in the mountains of New Mexico…

….well, I didn’t actually raise them myself, the little mama and papa mountain bluebird did the rearing until the little ones fledged. But I watched daily as the parents cared for the babies in the nesting boxes on my fences.

 I LOVED those smallish turquoise colored Mountain Bluebirds and could spend hours watching them flit here and there from my dining room window.

On the other hand, the Eastern bluebird is the bluebird of choice here in SW Florida….they are a little larger than a sparrow and a darker blue with a rust colored breast.

The Eastern Bluebird’s eggs are a different shade of blue/green also.

You can compare the blue feathers of both birds and see there is a huge difference in their color.

I love this picture of the goldfinch, Cardinal, male and female, oriole and Eastern Bluebird.  Such pretty colors.

So now I am concentrating on the blue bird that is native to SW Florida instead of Southwest United States’ mountain bluebird.

And my dovecote nesting box.

If I could just decide which roof style I like the best.

What do you think my dear readers? Copper or Redwood?

Either way, when the dovecote is nestled among the Pentas and Hibiscus flowers of my Secret Garden….I will be happy as long as I attract a pair of bluebirds….no matter the style of roof.

Romance is in the air…I can feel it. 🙂