These houses are for the birds

Thomas Burke designed this birdhouse after The Clubhouse at Augusta National, home of the Masters Golf Tournament. Credit:  Arnold Winkler. Thomas Burke designed this birdhouse after the Clubhouse at Augusta National, home of the Masters Golf Tournament. Credit: Arnold Winkler

Birds can roost in luxury at Morris Arboretum, where 29 intricate, artistic birdhouses have been set up over the 92-acre gardens for “Home Tweet Home, part of “Our Feathered Friends,” a series of bird-themed exhibits and events at the arboretum.

The birdhouse designers come from different backgrounds — and have very different inspirations.

Thomas Burke was a custom homebuilder; six of his birdhouses are on display, based offAndrew Wyeth paintings, George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch, the Augusta National clubhouse and Martha Stewart’s house on Long Island. Devin McNutt’s brightly painted birdhouses are made from the same materials she usually turns into handmade jewelry in her Philadelphia studio.Central High student Jacob Bass, who’s been volunteering at the arboretum since he was 8, contributed a simple, modern birdhouse, while glass artist John Hurd Jones went whimsical, incorporating fired ceramic and a glass eye.

All of the imaginative birdhouses are on display through the summer, until Sept 1.