This bird hovel fits right in, on the La Plaza Cultural fence. It is the best preserved of all the hovels from the original batch, of three years ago, at least as far as I know.

I was much more enchanted by these bird hovels before I knew they were purposeful artistic statements dealing with homelessness. But still they have charm.

I have been told that this is the website of the artist who created these things. I was sure that they were the work of a local eccentric, probably homeless, and likely obsessive/compulsive at the very least. The only thing that put me off that theory at all was the consistent use of the plastic straps to affix the houses. Search for Bird Hovel on the Gammablog

These have been showing up around the East Village over the past month. My guess is they are made by someone with some mental problems, or less likely an artist making some sort of statement about homelessness. They are all placed barely above head level, and I doubt any bird will make use of them. Rain has demolished some of them already.