Kyrre made his first birdhouse in elementary school and decided to build more on a random February day, he told NRK Østfold. He has since created 10 special boxes for redstarts, a rare bird species, and successfully attracted them to seven of the houses. Kjetil Solbakken, secretary general of Birdlife Norway, confirmed that redstarts are unusual in birdhouses and require larger entrance holes, according to NRK Østfold.
Kyrre maintains the birdhouses by carrying a heavy ladder several kilometers to clean them each March, he said. Over ten years, he has had 500 hangings of anti-woodpecker boxes with no attacks, he reported.
It was absolutely fantastic! I have never had redstarts in the boxes before, and I know it is a difficult bird to attract.
The box is made with a long and narrow entrance, so the woodpecker cannot reach the chicks that lie further down in the wooden box.
Look, come over to the forest with the boxes over there, I shout to the birds, while waving my arms and trying to make contact with them.
I made ten such boxes and got redstarts in seven of them. Then I understood that this was the beginning of a neighborhood for them.
I have 200 birdhouses, and in March I have to clean all the boxes and make them ready for a new season.
It's not easy to carry this kilometer after kilometer!
I agree with him that it is fun and special to get so much of that rare type of bird in the box.
The woodpecker does not like to put its head between the walls, so they do not attack the boxes where other bird species live.
I have had 500 hangings of such boxes for over ten years, and there has not been a single attack by woodpeckers in the boxes. Then I think I have succeeded.