Birdhouse Road (5 photos + 1 video)

For the attention of motorists and the delight of birds, more than a hundred bright and unusual birdhouses are located along a small section of Highway 201 (Old Canada Road) above Wyman Lake in Moscow, Maine.





This amazing collection of birdhouses is made from a variety of materials and painted in a variety of colors, ranging from muted natural to bright and garish. Some bird houses are more traditional and made of wood, while others were clearly creative. They are made from license plates, helmets and coffee cans. Birdhouses are unique not only because of the materials used, but also because of their style. One resembles a log cabin, another resembles a brigantine with a sail, and the third resembles a church. On this section of the highway there is even a birdhouse hotel and a pretentious White House.



A driver who occasionally passed through here was overcome by curiosity, and the man contacted city officials, artisans and local businessmen. None of them knew who first hung the birdhouse on the fence, and could not say when the first one appeared. But perhaps it was the humble blue box that arrived in 2011.





Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland said retired police officer Michael Edes was behind the idea for the police birdhouse. He was helped with the implementation by a retired detective, his friend and former colleague David Preble. Under the birdhouse are the metal numbers 332 and 326—the badge numbers of police officers Thomas Merry and Jeffrey Parola, who once patrolled this road. Both died in the line of duty: Merry in 1980 at the age of 28 when he was hit by a suspect's car while setting up a roadblock, and Parola in 1994 at the age of 29 after being involved in an accident while driving to a call.



Then Edes managed to identify several more “builders” whose houses turned out to be signed. Van decorated with a Quebec lily: June 23, 2017, Oliver, Martin and Katie. Yellow house with a green roof: Mimi, Lionel. His twin with the red roof: Nancy, Eric.



It would seem that there is no point in creating a wall of birdhouses. Maybe. But people simply do something interesting, bright and unusual with their own hands to make a section of the road brighter and lift the spirits of those passing by.