As Halloween approaches, Halloween lovers like me have already begun preparing this year’s autumn yard decorations. Some of us opt for pumpkins and mums and ghosts hanging from our trees while other people place faux tombstones in their yard in an attempt to appear as if it’s a makeshift cemetery.
Mike Bowen, owner and operator of Bowen Birdhouses, has a different take on Halloween décor. Among the many beautiful creations he sells on his website, he also creates and sells Zombie and Haunted Mansion birdhouses. Yes…I thought it was an unusual niche market, too. Bowen’s creations are not the run-of-the-mill birdhouses found in the Garden Department at Lowe’s or Home Depot.
The idea of creepy birdhouses appeals to me in a unique way as I have a soft spot for the supernatural, and I love birds. As a child I enjoyed hearing ghost stories and even lived in a rather questionably creepy house growing up. When Halloween comes around, our house is the first on the block to be decorated and the last house to remove said decorations. I can totally see a zombie birdhouse hanging from a shepherd’s hook in my front yard.
Bowen is quite the artist-his zombie birdhouse has the look of a shack from Night of the Living Dead-with missing or boarded up windows, parts of the roof missing, and even carefully painted blood prints on the “door.” The birdhouse is a very affordable Halloween decoration. He uses remnants from his other birdhouses, which is a great way to recycle these items.
The Haunted Mansion is larger and is actually three birdhouses in one big mansion, providing three families of birds to live in “luxury.” The windows are creepily boarded up with plywood and “nails” with leafless trees and shrubs that look like they’ve seen better days. There is a “do not enter” sign in one area of the house and a large sign that has a “Go Away” warning on it.
Bowen Birdhouses are all pretty incredible-giving some birds a chance to live in a better house than 99% of American people will ever live in-at least by the outward appearance. These luxury bird homes range from gorgeous Spanish influenced mansions to highly detailed Southern homes with incredible amounts of fine details painted, glued, or otherwise attached to them. All in all, it would be difficult to see some of these birdhouses on a post in the backyard as they are custom built and the prices range from under $50 to over $300. Nonetheless, if I were buying a birdhouse, I would want birds to live in it regardless of the price.
Sure, they are pieces of art without a doubt, but our little feathered friends sure could use help when the weather turns cold, and my heart is too soft not to provide birds with shelter if I had a birdhouse to offer them, even if it cost me $300.
Now…to decide which birdhouse I want Mike Bowen to make me first…