How to Set Up a Nesting Box. Setting up a nesting box in your yard can provide an essential nesting area for the members of many species of birds.
It is also a great way to provide wildlife a place to raise young, one of the four things you need for your outdoor area to qualify as a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. While many species are able to hide their nests in dense foliage or grassy meadow areas, many others require holes for nesting. Some birds, such as woodpeckers, can excavate their own nesting cavities in dead or decaying trees. Others depend on the abandoned nesting holes or natural cavities formed from fallen branches for places to build nests. Recently, however, an increase in development and removal of damaged and dead trees has left many cavity-nesting birds with fewer natural places to raise their young. Adding a nesting box to your habitat will not only benefit native bird species, it will also give you an opportunity to monitor and enjoy birds.
Where to Place Your Nesting Box. Attract Purple Martins with Gourd Birdhouses. Here is a fun habitat project for those who have already made traditional nesting boxes and are looking for a challenge.
People have been making gourd birdhouses to attract purple martins for a long time. According to eNature.com, "the custom of erecting a martin house to attract these beneficial birds was practiced by the early settlers, and by the southern Indian tribes, who hung clusters of hollow gourds in trees near their gardens. " These birds eat lots of mosquitoes. Gourd birdhouses are best for only one species, the purple martin. Other birds may try to nest in them, but it's not really safe. "As houses for birds other than martins, they cannot be adequately predator-proofed," says NWF Naturalist Craig Tufts. Do Purple Martins Live Near Me? Before you make a gourd birdhouse, you need to know if purple martins live in your area. Where Should I Put Them? You'll need a lot of space to make your gourd colony. Growing Gourds The gourds can be challenging to grow.
Making a Gourd Birdhouse. Give Wildlife a Place to Raise Their Young. Wildlife need places to reproduce, bear and raise their young, and see their young survive to adulthood, all safe from predators, bad weather and human intervention.
Creating a wildlife habitat is about creating a place for the entire life-cycle of a species to occur, from tadpole to frog, from caterpillar to butterfly. Many habitat features that serve as cover can double as locations where wildlife can raise their young: from wildflower patches where butterflies and moths lay their eggs and small mammals burrow into the undergrowth, to constructed birdhouses, ponds for amphibians and fish, or caves where bats roost and form colonies. How can I give wildlife a place to raise their young? You need at least two places for wildlife to engage in courtship behavior, mate, and then bear and raise their young: Mature Trees • Meadow or Prairie • Nesting Box • Wetland • Cave • Host Plants for Caterpillars • Dead Trees or Snags • Dense Shrubs or a Thicket • Water Garden or Pond • Burrow.