Chickadees
We have ten small bird nest boxes up this spring. Most have opening that are 1 1/4 inches but I made a few with 1 1/2 inch openings in hopes of getting a few different kinds of birds.
Today I noticed a chickadee excavating sawdust out of the bottom of one of the nest boxes that was up last year; in fact it is the one that fledged six of seven babies. I wonder if it is the same pair as last year or maybe one of the fledglings.
We had five boxes up last year and three of them were used; two by chickadees and one by violet-green swallows. The swallows really had to squeeze to get in the box which is why I made some larger holes this time. The original intent of the small holes was to exclude more aggressive species but I've never seen a starling on this property.
The boxes are sized for chickadees, black phoebes, flycatchers, house wrens, downy or hairy woodpeckers, nuthatches, or titmice. I've only actually seen the first two on the list on this property but the others live nearby. The 1 1/2 inch boxes could theoretically be used by bluebirds but I think our place might be a bit too wooded for them.
Today I noticed a chickadee excavating sawdust out of the bottom of one of the nest boxes that was up last year; in fact it is the one that fledged six of seven babies. I wonder if it is the same pair as last year or maybe one of the fledglings.
We had five boxes up last year and three of them were used; two by chickadees and one by violet-green swallows. The swallows really had to squeeze to get in the box which is why I made some larger holes this time. The original intent of the small holes was to exclude more aggressive species but I've never seen a starling on this property.
The boxes are sized for chickadees, black phoebes, flycatchers, house wrens, downy or hairy woodpeckers, nuthatches, or titmice. I've only actually seen the first two on the list on this property but the others live nearby. The 1 1/2 inch boxes could theoretically be used by bluebirds but I think our place might be a bit too wooded for them.