I have been attempting since I bought this home five years ago.  I have documented 36 different varieties of birds, including “fly bys”, feeding just black oil sunflower seeds, niger, suet, and providing water.  I also grow plants that encourage the birds, butterflies, and bees

I have hung bird houses made of straw, grass, recycled material,

Flower Top Bird House

functional wood designs, and even ornamental.

Starlings chose to raise a family in the eave which was protected by a fairly large evergreen.  They never returned.

A sparrow had a nest in the laurel hedge which I discovered when I trimmed the hedge, exposing the nest with two babies, which the Ferrell cat found soon after.  I felt so bad!

A pair of house finches started a nest in ornamental bird house by my back door, laid two eggs, and then abandoned the nest.

Mini Wren Bird House

A second pair of house finches started to build a nest in a house I had hung from a tree branch but again they abandoned the process.

I am learning the reasons for my failures and would welcome any ones input!

1. My yard is small and I am outside a lot on my days off.  They start a nest while I am at work, stay with the process a couple of weeks, and then determine my presence is too disruptive.
2. There are natural settings of trees and shrubs in the deep gully and swamp in my back yard, so there are safer more distant settings available.  Now I have moved my bird houses into those tees and let’s see what happens this year and next spring!
3. Because I have such a wide variety of birds coming to my feeders, my small yard is far too busy for birds to attempt to raise a family.  Nesting birds need space!  They do not want to fight off other birds from their nest.
4. If I have a nesting family in my yard, I have to stop feeding the other birds until the fledglings are on their own.  Since only 80% of baby birds survive, it is well worth supporting the nesters!
5. I keep my two cats indoors, but my neighbor allows his cat out and is happy when it has killed a bird!  My pleadings have not changed his attitude or actions.  There are some other Ferrell cats in my neighborhood, which seem to be diminishing in number.

Designed for cavity nesting birds. North American Bluebird Society Approved.

Many North American birds nest in “cavities” (holes in trees and fence posts). Although some birds, such as woodpeckers, can chisel their own holes with the heavy, sharp bills, other cabity-nesters must find suitable holes for nesting. Unfortunately suitable nest cavities can be hard to find in much of North America.

One way to solve the nest-site shortage is to provide artificial cavities, also known as Bird Houses or nest boxes. More than 50 species of birds including Bluebirds, Kestrels, Owls, Titmice, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Wrens, Tee Swallows and Woodpickers will use bird houses. Bird houses have helped boost populations of many cavity-nesting bird species whose numbers were declining. For example, both Wood Ducks and Eastern Bluebirds recently have made dramatic comebacks. A Bird House on your property will provide a valuable home for birds and enjoyable bird watching for you. At our website we offer a wide variety of bird houses and bird feeders. These will help you to attract nesting birds. You will enjoy the sites of parents and young birds in your yard.