How To: These Google Maps Birdhouses Make It Easy for Birds to Find Their Way Home

With Google Maps, we can fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo to Paris and New York—all in a matter of seconds. We can zoom in with relative ease and flock around the city of our choice, checking out restaurants, historical landmarks, traffic and scuba divers. Easily the most recognizable and iconic part of Google Maps are the markers that signify all of these locations and point of interests.

The iconic markers have already spurred artists to create Google Map inspired art pieces—with one such artist being Aram Bartholl, who created 20-foot-tall Google Maps markers in cities across Europe. The project was his own personal take on how the lines of digital life and reality have become muddled at times, with these markers almost seeming like a normal part of a city

Now there's a new project from Shu-Chun Hsiao, who has also uniquely brought the popular Google Maps markers to life. His take is much smaller in size and can actually be utilized as functional birdhouses. Hsiao has littered his Google Birdhouses throughout his hometown of Taipei, Taiwan, especially in rural areas.

The birdhouses serve as landmarks for birds, who are able to fly from city to city in reality, as we only can through the use of Google Maps. Hsiao explains that:

"Google Map had created a remarkable landmark icon, showing the sites on its street views. To search for a landmark with online google map, we can scroll to zoom from the satellite, soon we'll be able to wander on streets, virtually. Birds, have the most real experience of google map. Birds can fly through the city, through streets. A birdhouse becomes their destination as google map does".

While the birdhouses are quite the eye-candy, they are fully functional for birds to use as a rest/feeding area. There are no instructions on how to make these exact birdhouses, but they should not be very difficult to make. You can start by searching how-to guides on building birdhouses and create the simple marker design yourself.

For more pictures of the birdhouses, head over to Shu-Chun Hsiao's blog. And if you're in the mood for another interesting spin on birdhouses, check out these Burger King "Fly-Thrus".