What is a Horizontal Perch?

A horizontal perch is a wooden dowel segment positioned horizontally in relation to the front wall of a birdhouse. It is a unique perch system with a base-plate, support-arm, and rails that work together to support the perch.

Why do birds use perches?

Perches are used by birds to rest temporarily, look for food, mate, clean their beaks, clean their feathers, and hop or climb from one perch to another. Predatory birds such as hawks and owls will perch on a rock or on top of a power pole to eat what they have just caught. Dove will commonly sit or lay down in a perched position on the ground or other flat area. Altogether, birds will not typically use a perch to lay down.

What types of bird perches are there?

Most perches are straight and perpendicular from the front wall of a bird house. However, perches can be anything that birds typically stand on, such as branches, ledges, walls, rope and power-lines. Man-made perches can involve various designs and materials, and one in particular is a horizontal perch made from wood.

Horizontal Perch Advantages

Horizontal perches have advantages over other typical perches. The design of a horizontal perch is intended to encourage birds that would not otherwise use a traditional perch to use it to regularly land and roost. A horizontal perch is more visible because more of the perch can be seen from an approaching bird coming in to land on it, since it is mounted side-ways, or horizontal. Birds will commonly approach a bird house from a straight flight path.

A traditional perch is typically mounted perpendicular to the front wall. This discourages many birds from using it because the perch is hard to see when coming in for a landing. A bird that is in flight and flying straight toward an object that is pointing directly toward them creates a perception that the perch is much smaller than it actually is. There is no dimensional perception of length since the length of the perch is hard to see.

The length of a horizontal perch is much easier to see since it is mounted "horizontally" instead of perpendicularly. Although birds have very good eyesight, a perpendicular perch is hard to see in relation to birds vantage point, causing the perch to appear smaller. Horizontal perches help birds use a swoop-path to collect food and feed their young.

Although a horizontal perch is a man-made object, it resembles a natural branch or twig. A bird can see the entire length of the perch from a long distance and thus looks more encouraging and safer to use for a landing spot as the bird approaches. We use a horizontal perch for our a-frame models.

Nesting birds will commonly use nearby objects for roosting to scope out sources of food. Branches are often used as landing objects because they are close to a birdhouse or nest.

The horizontal perch system is a design that uses a multi-design system. The parts include a base, rails, support arm and perch.

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what is a swoop-path?