Nest boxes are good replacements for tree cavities.

Chickadees nested in our nest box every year when we lived in Ohio.

It’s getting close to that time of year when birds and other creatures feel the urge to reproduce. 

Different bird species make nests that are unique to their species. Many species like Northern cardinals, American Robins, and ruby-throated hummingbirds raise their young in an open cup nest made with materials like twigs, grasses, feathers, moss, lichen, fur, and occasionally shed snakeskin.  Other species such as Eastern bluebirds, Carolina chickadees, and barred owls require a tree cavity to build their nests.  They will not build an open cup nest.

In our neighborhoods, mature old trees that have cavities are few and far between.  These trees are often removed because the features that make them suitable for cavity nesters also make them hazardous to our houses and utility lines.

Installing nest boxes in your yard is an excellent way to be a good neighbor to nature and help provide reproductive opportunities for birds and other wildlife.

We have three nest boxes in our half-acre yard in Sandy Springs.  There is a bluebird box in the front yard, facing the open space of the small lawn.  A box suitable for chickadees or Carolina wrens is on the edge of the small woodland in the backyard, and we have a barred owl box down the hill in the privacy of a magnolia tree.  The barred owl box was constructed and installed by my husband as a birthday gift to me.

Cavity-nesting birds come in all shapes and sizes, with differing habitat preferences. So naturally the size and shape of their nestbox will vary across species, and the placement of the box is important too.  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a website called nestwatch.org that provides detailed information about nestbox requirements for various cavity-nesting birds, including box dimensions, size and placement of the entrance hole, suggested height above ground, and optimal site conditions.  This is where we found the plans for our barred owl box. 

If you don’t have the tools or the woodworking skills to make a nest box, you can purchase them at Wild Birds Unlimited or an online retailer.  I purchased my bluebird box from the local WBU and the chickadee box came from an Etsy retailer.  I prefer boxes constructed out of wood as they are the same material as natural cavity nests, with a clean-out door and proper ventilation so the nestlings and parents don’t overheat.

Once your box is properly situated and installed it’s fun to watch and see if the birds are interested.  If the birds use your box for their nest, you are in for a real treat.  It is so exciting to watch them bring nest materials, and later bring food for the brooding mate and eventually for the nestlings.  Feeding nestlings is a busy time for bird parents and you’ll get to see lots of activity as they bring insects for the babies and remove waste from the nest. Our first experience with nest watching was when we lived in Ohio. We set up a box in our backyard and chickadees used it every spring.

A chickadee enters the nestbox in our Ohio backyard.

If you’re really into watching the progression of the nesting activity, you can track your nest observations on the Nestwatch app.  This free app is a citizen-science project and the data entered by users is compiled into a database to track reproductive trends of breeding bird populations.  How cool is that?!

In recent days, I have seen bluebirds take an interest in our box where a pair successfully reared a brood last year.  And I have seen chickadees checking out their potential nesting box that I recently moved to a new location.  Maybe they will like the new location and use it this year.  We haven’t seen the owls at their box yet, but we have heard them in the area at night making their mating calls. 

If the local owls decide not to use our box, I’m certain that it will not go to waste.  Squirrels or raccoons will likely take advantage of the cozy private spot for their nesting activities. When we lived in Florida I had a chickadee nest box in the yard.  In the seven years that we lived there it was never used by nesting birds but I did find that a bat was using the box for it’s daytime roost.

Installing a nest box or two is a good way to connect with nature in our own backyards and it will provide enrichment and learning opportunities for the whole family.  It’s the neighborly thing to do; to provide for them what we have taken away.

Five chickadee nestlings. Note the size variation which shows their asynchronous hatching.