We walked down from the center of town to TwispWorks (in Twisp, Washington) today.  A nice woman in the Office/Art and Craft Supply Store recommended we walk down and see a native garden and check out some of the artists’ studios. More on that tomorrow….

One of the workshops, Nice Nests was open and Patrick Hannigan was working on building species-specific nests, using salvaged scrap wood.

I bought a Swallows Nest that had a purple edge, signifying the color of a lilac bush on a homestead in Carlton. The homestead is gone, but the lilac bush thrives, he told me.

My sister-in-law Carolee feeds a lot of birds and I wanted to get a nice hostess gift for her.

The rust color represents a certain lichen found on the trees in the area.  All the colors represent native plants in the region.

Meet Patrick, owner of Nice Nests and creator of all the species specific nests

“Installation/consultation services available. I work with private landowners, land conservation organizations and public agencies to create, enhance and preserve critical breeding habitat for native cavity-nesting birds.” from website

Be sure to click here to read an article about how Patrick began his business

Ventilation at the top

A pin to lock the door or to open to clean out

Rough texture for the young to crawl out

Click the photo to see the features, there is also drainage at the bottom. He’ll build you a custom nest for your needs.  the one above is the one I chose.

Swallows and bluebirds nests-  There are nests for owls, and chickadees and many other types of birds, large and small.

A giant nest for a Kestrel

Flying Squirrel Nests

The tiny ornament nests are made by Patrick’s daughter, Posey

The tools of the builder of Nice Nests