The American Robin is the largest thrush. Robins prefer to build their nest in the crotch of a tree. You can offer a nesting platform if you don’t have an appropriate tree. You should pick a spot that is, at least, six feet above the ground on a shaded tree trunk or under the overhang of a shed or porch. A created mud puddle in the vicinity, also, offers additional enticement, as robins use mud to hold their nests together.
Bluebirds can be attracted by putting up a bluebird house near an old field, golf course, cemetery, park or orchard. Bluebirds prefer nest boxes on a wooden fence post between three or five feet high or on a tree stump. Bluebirds, also, enjoy nesting in abandoned woodpecker nest holes.
The most consideration must be given to the hole diameter. A hole that is an inch and a half in diameter is small enough to deter starlings, which along with house sparrows, are known to kill bluebirds while sitting on the nest. Other animals are problematic to bluebirds, also. Cats, snakes, chipmunks and raccoons can be discouraged from bluebird nests by mounting the bluebird home on a metal pole or by using a metal predator guard on a wood post.
Purple Martins are a welcomed bird in many a yard because they are known to eat, nearly 2,000 mosquitoes a day. While it is true purple martins eat flying insects, don’t expect them to eliminate all the mosquitoes in your yard. The martins prefer dragonflies which prey on the larvae of mosquitoes. If you want to rid your yard of mosquitoes, you would have better luck if you put up a bat roosting box. One bat can eat thousands of mosquitoes in one night.
Martins, however, are entertaining birds. You will enjoy watching their antics in your yard. The best way of attracting martins is if you put a house on the edge of a river or pond, surrounded by a lawn services nh or field. A nearby telephone wire gives them a place to congregate, as martins are sociable birds.
Purple martins, being sociable birds, nest in groups, also. Therefore, you will need a house with a minimum of four large rooms, six or more inches on all sides, with a 2 ½ inch entrance hole about 1 ½ inches above the floor. Drainage and ventilation are major factors in the design of a martin house. Porches with porch dividers, railings and supplemental roof perches like a TV antenna make any house more appealing.
Houses can, also, be constructed from gourds by fashioning an entrance hole and small holes at the bottom to permit drainage. If you make homes from gourds, it is not necessary to add railings and perches because adult martins will perch on the wire used to hang the house. Before you choose a house, you must think about what kind of pole you are going to put it on. Martins like their houses to be ten to twenty feet off the ground. Some poles are less cumbersome than others.
Wrens are not very choosy about their nesting place. Nest boxes with a 1 inch X 2 inch horizontal slot are enticing to the wrens. The Carolina wren requires a slot a little larger, 1 ½ in X 2 ½ inches. However, the large the opening, the better the chances that house sparrows will occupy the box. Wrens are known to fill the nest cavity with twigs, regardless of the fact they use the home to raise their young or not. Since male wrens build several houses so that the female can have her choice of a home, you should hang several nest boxes at eye level on tree limbs that are partly sunlit. Wrens are sociable. Consequently, they will not shy away from a nest close to your house.
Brown creepers and Prothonotary warblers like nesting behind the curved bark of tree trunks. Slab bark houses appeal to creepers in heavily wooded yards. Prothonotary warblers, also, prefer slab bark houses or bluebird boxes attached to a tree trunk. But their houses must be place over water such as a like, swamp or river with a good canopy of trees overhead.
Chickadees, Nuthatches and Titmice share the same habitat—feeders and food. If you put a properly designed nest box in a wooded yard, at least one of these species is bound to check it out. Chickadee houses should be placed at eye level. They can be secured to tree trunks or hung from tree limbs. The entrance h ole should be 1 1/8 inches in order to attract chickadees and exclude house sparrows. Nuthatch houses should be an