My name is Gary Springer. I grew up in a family with generations of nature and bird lovers so my first memorable experiences with birds coming and going in and out of bird houses go back to the late nineteen fifties when I was a small child.

The interest I had in my grandfather’s small wren houses laid dormant for many years while I pursued an accounting profession. This interest was sparked in 1991 while I was helping my grandparents enjoy their twilight by putting up bird feeders for their enjoyment. Then, after my calling to help them was complete, my interest began to grow into the passion it now is.

To get close enough to birds to get good photographs, I decided to set out a bird house. After studying two brochures with plans on how to built a nest box, I built one to the specifications recommended for the Black Capped Chickadee.

Although I lived in a congested ghetto-like environment at the time, I set up the bird house in a scraggly tree, fighting for survival in a narrow gap between a garage and a brick wall that towered above it. Amazingly, only a couple hours after erecting the bird house, I watched a Black Capped Chickadee become my first tenant.

Nearly everyone who has ever had a nest box with baby birds knows how captivating and warm the experience is, and, how important the birds success becomes. When I looked across my second floor balcony and saw a Blue jay completing the destruction of the last baby Chickadee it had stolen from inside the nest box I was heart broken. I had built the nest box according to the specifications of a birding organization and a state wildlife commission, but I just knew the nest box could be improved to make the chicks safer from predation by larger birds.

Not long afterwards my sister called to tell me about the 6 foot black snake her husband had found raiding the nest box I had made for them

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Subsequent experiences with nearly dead nestlings inside an overheated nest box on a hot sunny day and learning about what prevents the rotting of cedar, a wood commonly used for nest boxes, made it painfully clear that many of the bird houses put up by people with divine intentions were actually hurting birds by luring them away from a search for a more effective natural cavity. And, their landlords weren’t even aware that many of the young birds in their bird houses were either eaten by predators or died as a result of insufficient insulation, or lack of ventilation and drainage.

I’ve always wanted to contribute my life to conserving the natural environment in forests and to helping the birds and other animals that are involved in a huge struggle for survival as we rapidly convert more and more of their beautiful natural habitat into concrete, steel and brick.

I decided it would be unconscionable to sit idly by as the majority of nest boxes being sold to people like me that wanted to do something to help the birds, were in many cases further endangering them. After years of studying various types of nest boxes and experimenting with design modifications I set out to create a bird house that provided the most comfortable and safe alternative to natural cavities for our cavity nesting birds.

Real Bird Homes was created to help native cavity nesting birds by replacing inadequate and unsafe bird houses in back yards, farms, golf courses and pastures across the nation with nest boxes that provide a safe alternative to increasingly scarcer natural nesting cavities.

To accomplish this goal it became apparent that in addition to providing a nest box that provides a safe comfortable home that attracts birds, it was just as important that Real Bird Homes create a bird house that attracts people.

The bird house has almost become the icon for cute. The market is flooded with thousands of different types of very attractive or interesting birdhouses. Many are made using great detail duplicating our homes with windows, porches, chimneys, shutters on the windows and even small chairs on the porches . Some are made of license plates, plastic bottles, boots, or almost anything that a hole can be cut into. Some are styled after log homes and still others are painted with such artistry that they make excellent interior decorations for kitchen shelves or even china closets. But most of these cute bird houses belong everywhere except outside where a bird might nest in them and endanger itself and its eggs or chicks. Further, in the zeal to market them, instead of describing them as "novelty items only" sellers are incorrectly advertising them as great for birds despite how inadequate or dangerous they are.