For the Birds

by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Martins nest in groups, so you’ll need a house with a minimum of four large rooms—6 or more inches on all sides, with a 2½ inch entrance hole about 1½ inches above the floor. Ventilation and drainage are critical factors in martin house design. Porches, railings, porch dividers and supplemental roof perches, like a TV antenna, make any house more appealing.

You can also make houses from gourds by fashioning an entrance hole and small holes in the bottom for drainage. If you use gourds, it’s not necessary to add railings and perches. Adult martins will perch on the wire used to hang the houses. Before you select a house, think about what kind of pole you’re going to put it on. Martins occupy a house ten to twenty feet off the ground. Some poles are less cumbersome than others.

Gourd houses are the easiest to set up. String them from a wire between two poles, from a sectional aluminum pole, or on pulleys mounted to a crossbar high up on a pole.

You can mount lightweight aluminum houses for martins on telescoping poles, providing easy access for maintenance and inspection. Because of their weight (more than 30 pounds), wood houses should not be mounted on telescoping poles. You’ll have to use a sturdy metal or a wood pole attached to a pivot post. The problem with this lowering technique is that you can’t tilt the house without damaging the nests inside. If you put your house on a shorter, fixed pole, ten to twelve feet high, you can use a ladder to inspect and maintain it.

Flycatchers

The great crested flycatcher and its western cousin, the ash-throated flycatcher, are common in wooded suburbs and rural areas with woodlots. Their natural nesting sites are abandoned woodpecker holes. Flycatchers may nest in a bird house if it is placed about ten feet up in a tree in an orchard or at the edge of a field or stream. This is a longshot, but well worth the effort if you are successful.

Woodpeckers

You can attract all types of woodpeckers with a suet feeder, but only the flicker is likely to use a bird house. They prefer a box with roughened interior and a floor covered with a two-inch layer of wood chips or coarse sawdust. Flickers are especially attracted to nest boxes filled with sawdust, which they “excavate” to suit themselves. For best results, place the box high up on a tree trunk, exposed to direct sunlight.

Try building a birdhouse for the other species of woodpeckers following the guidelines in this booklet. You might be surprised!