South Strabane woman creates backyard haven
At the most popular bird hangout in South Strabane Township, woodpeckers and goldfinches jockey for positions at feeders while sparrows enjoy a bath. A turkey waddles through the crowd of visitors, raucous with tweeting and squabbling. Hawks watch from the treetops, waiting for an opportune moment.
Annette Shahan has spent the last 20 years turning her yard into an avian Shangri-La, with 40 birdhouses, 10 feeders and six baths.
“I just love to watch the birds nest, and I can hear the babies,” she said. “They can get pretty loud early in the mornings and in the evenings because that’s their feeding time, but I’m used to it now.”

Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
There are several different kinds of birdhouses in Annette Shahan’s yard.
Shahan and her husband, Danny, moved into their Locust Avenue home about 22 years ago, when she started collecting birdhouses.
“My mother-in-law had a couple of birdhouses and always had bluebirds,” Shahan said. “So, I thought I’d put a few out and see what I got. I started out with a couple and just kept getting more and more.”
She now has 40 birdhouses and three bird “condos,” which are a cluster of houses attached to a post in the yard. The bird oasis comes to life at feeding time, attracting all kinds of feathered friends, from hummingbirds to woodpeckers, turkeys and hawks.
“They make a ruckus,” Shahan said.
Some of the houses in the yard she’s purchased at stores, but many of them were made by her husband and hand-painted by Shahan.
“The neighbors will laugh and say ‘How many birdhouses do you need?'” she said. “But birds are picky – they like certain things.”
Bluebirds, for example, are more keen on the houses attached to posts in the yard, rather than ones hung in the trees lining the back of the yard. She said house wrens, though they are some of the smallest birds she gets, are the neighborhood bullies when it comes to houses.
“The house wren comes back in April and the male will pick out three different houses that the female will choose from,” Shahan said. “It doesn’t matter if something else is already living there – he’ll kick out other types of birds by pulling their nest out.”

Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
A titmouse sits on a bird feeder.
Over the years, Shahan learned to check to make sure wasps don’t nest in the houses before the birds get a chance. She’s also learned the importance of birdhouse placement. The rain usually comes from a certain direction, and if the houses face that way, the birds could drown.
Taking care of the birds is a commitment, as the Shahans take down all the houses in the fall and clean them out for next season.
“Every once in a while, we’ll find a dead baby bird or some eggs that never made it,” she said.
She keeps a hanging cage of orange yarn in the yard that the birds can use to make their nests and she keeps a large chest of seed to fill the feeders every day.
“I go through a lot of seed,” she said.
The seed has attracted other critters, like raccoons and a turkey who stops by daily and whom Shahan has named Wilma. Shahan also puts out peanuts for a persistent squirrel named Harry. She’s even witnessed larger birds of prey catch smaller birds to eat.
“We have a lot of hawks and we have a falcon,” she said. “They like to go after the doves. Sometimes, I’ll come out and find feathers everywhere. I’ve had them sit on my deck watching the shrubs and just waiting for the birds to come out.”
Over the years, Shahan has learned a lot about different types of birds and their nesting and feeding habits. She said she subscribes to bird magazines and has a large book to help her identify different species.
“Every time I get a new bird, I get my book out to see what kind I got today,” she said. “That’s my relaxation. I come out here in the morning and drink my coffee and watch the birds.”

Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Birds have a selection of homes from which to choose.