Birdhouses are a simple addition to your yard that can provide nesting places for many kinds of birds and weeks of wildlife watching opportunities.
Cavity-nesters, like tree swallows, house wrens, blackcapped chickadees, Eastern bluebirds, wood ducks, and American kestrels, all use nest boxes. The type of birds you might attract depends on the size of box and the nearby habitat; some birds prefer open fields while others prefer forests or wetlands.
If you already have a box or two, fall is a good time for maintenance. The nesting season has ended, so check your boxes to make sure they are clean and in good repair for next year.
If you’re thinking about building and installing a new box, now is the perfect time to get started. A box put up in the fall or winter will be ready to go as soon as nesting season begins in the spring.
More nest box tips can be found on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch website.
Photo of a tree swallow nesting in a backyard in Otsego County by Katherine Yard.
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