BOB LLOYD BUILDS FRIENDSHIP WITH NATURE THROUGH BIRDHOUSES

A natural wren house.

Martin houses.

A tin-roofed house.

Squirrel feeder.

Bob Lloyd is a friend of birds. Lloyd and his wife, Ann, also a friend of nature, provide feeders and houses for birds, squirrels and bats as well as an especially handy maintenance service for those having bluebird trails 10 bluebird houses on their property.

It started out as a hobby. The Lloyds, originally from California and where Bob was a salesman for 25 years at a steel manufacturer, moved here in 1992 because it was just too expensive to retire there.

Ann was born in McClure, Ill. Her hobbies include gardening and sewing. Their combined families include five girls and five boys. Most of their family lives in California. There are a lot of family get-togethers.

Perhaps it came naturally to help bird families. Just listen to this labor of love. The bluebird population had diminished to almost nothing. Where the birds used to nest in old wooden fence posts, steel posts became the building material of choice. With housing development on the rise, bluebird homes were being eliminated. Knowing this, Lloyd's hobby of playing around with wood became very important.

Armed with the specifics on bluebird house construction, he began his mission in the wood shop among his one-time tools of recreation: the miter saw, the band saw, the scroll saw, the drill press and a couple of sanders.

Lloyd follows the recommendations set up by the National Bluebird Association for bluebird houses. Not only must they be erected at a certain height, have a certain diameter hole to enter, Lloyd has gone a step further and designed toeholds on the inside for fledgling baby birds to get a leg up when they're exiting the nest and attempting their first flight. There's also a predator block mounted around the opening to prevent stealing of fledglings.

Lloyd also sets up bluebird trails for those who have farms. There are 10 bluebird houses a farm, and the houses must be 100 yards apart because bluebirds are very territorial. Lloyd says there are about 110 bluebird houses set up on trails throughout Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties.

All of the houses and feeders are built out of natural untreated materials necessary to the health and happiness of birds. Each product is also designed with durability and ease of cleaning in mind.

As typical of nature, when you give, you get. A great many of the fine-feathered species will happily nest in Lloyd's man-made structures and return their gratitude with exterminating insects, free of charge and free of pesticides.

Bats and martins, notorious for gobbling insects, have their own specific housing. Let's clear up the Hollywood myth of bats being bloodsuckers, carrying rabies and getting tangled up in women's hair.

First off, bats who might be bloodsuckers are not indigenous to Southeast Missouri. Second, bats carrying rabies would occur about as frequently as the neighborhood dog is proven to have rabies and lastly, bats are nocturnal, so they'll be flying around when most women are sleeping. On a more positive note, a bat is responsible for eating between 600 and 1,000 insects an hour.

The bat house built by Lloyd is complete with a bat motif wood-burned on the front, so bats know their address. It also has three partitions inside so they can have a toehold and suspend as a roosting place. Bat houses must be erected at a height of 14 to 15 feet on the side of a barn or pole.

There are 14 items available from Lloyd Woodcraft. The Lloyd Web site is www.birdhouses-r-us.com or call (573) 238-4743. The items are also available throughout Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties. Goose Creek, Pioneer Orchard, Garden Hill Nursery, Bush's Garden, Diebold Orchard, Traveler's Gazebo Garden and Ozark Country Crafts also carry Lloyd Woodcraft products.

There are several wren houses available and a few are decorative enough people use them for complementing their interior space.