Nebraskaland Magazine
Readers have long been sending us photos of their outdoors-themed personalized license plates for publication. As people have a fondness of their vehicles, they also take pride in the government-issued items that identify their chosen rides.
If you’re like me, your hoarder instincts kick in when it comes time to get a new set of license plates and find a place for the old ones. Thankfully, I’ve found a way to save those plates and help wildlife while I’m at it. Bird house construction is one answer.
To make one all you need is a license plate, some scrap lumber, a drill, hand saw, and some screws and nails.
I didn’t start out with any measurements. I just fashioned a little scrap lumber to the form of a tray for holding seed this is smaller than the roof. I cut the ends of a couple of equal-lengths of 1×1 to a point and attached those boards to the sides of the tray in vertical fashion. I bent the license plate to match the angle on the pointed boards and drilled two screw holes along the crease. I attached the roof to the vertical boards, and voilà … bird feeder.
I went shiny-side up with the roof, but I don’t think it makes much difference. For hanging, I drilled a couple of holes near the crease and inserted an s-hook from my junk drawer. I expect the feeder to last a long time, thanks to the anti-corrosive aluminum construction of the roof.
Best of all, I’m satisfying those hoarder tendencies while creating a place for birds to take refuge from the weather for a hearty meal.
