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Welcome Home, Feathered Friends! How Birds Find Your Backyard Birdhouses

Welcome Home, Feathered Friends! How Birds Find Your Backyard Birdhouses

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Have you put some birdhouses on your property recently? It might take a little while for birds to finally start using them when you’ve just installed them.

How do birds go about finding birdhouses? Is this something that takes a very long time?

Below, you’ll learn about how birds find birdhouses. You’ll also get information that will help you to attract birds to the birdhouses that you place.

If you follow the advice below, it should lead to better results. You’ll get to enjoy seeing birds in your yard for quite some time if you do things right.

Birds Look for Convenient Nesting Spots

Birds look for convenient nesting spots that they can use. Birdhouses will appeal to certain types of birds.

Only birds that are cavity-nesters will utilize birdhouses. These are birds that will typically nest inside of crevices that have formed in trees.

When placing birdhouses on your property, you should have an idea of the type of birds you want to attract. Different types of birds have different needs when it comes to birdhouses.

Some birds will be too large to fit in certain birdhouses. The entrance hole must be the right size for the bird that you want to attract.

You’ll have to look up specific information about the birds that you’re interested in. This will allow you to buy birdhouses that fit the bill.

Once you have what you need, you can place the birdhouses in good spots. The birds might choose to nest in the birdhouse if it’s convenient for them to do so.

How Long Does it Take for a Bird to Find a Birdhouse?

There isn’t a specific amount of time that it takes a bird to find a birdhouse. You simply need to do your best to make the area near the birdhouse attractive to the birds.

Later, you’ll learn about some methods that can help you to attract birds to your yard. For now, you need to know that birds may or may not choose to nest in the birdhouses that you install.

A bird might nest in the birdhouse if it’s a good fit. You just need to do everything that you can to make the birdhouse appealing.

Also, placing the birdhouses early enough is imperative. Birds might find their nests by the very early days of spring.

If you wait too long, you might not have any birds nest in your birdhouse. In some cases, it’ll be beneficial to install birdhouses during the last few weeks of winter.

Place Bird Feeders

Placing some bird feeders near the birdhouses will be helpful. This ensures that the birds will see your yard as a good spot.

If they think they have convenient access to food nearby, it’ll make more sense for them to nest in your yard. You don’t need to put the feeders directly next to the birdhouses, but they should be placed somewhere in your yard.

The presence of food will make it more likely that the birds will want to nest somewhere on your property. You’ll see more birds visiting the yard and some of them might choose to occupy your birdhouses.

Try to stock the birdhouses with types of seed that appeal to the birds you want to attract. You might also wish to look into feeders that are recommended for certain types of birds.

Place Bird Baths

Birds also need access to water. You can make your yard more appealing by giving the birds access to a bird bath.

Place the bath somewhere in the yard that isn’t too far from the birdhouses. The local birds can utilize the bath whenever they need to.

Do your best to keep the bath clean and ensure that it always has enough water. This should make it even more likely that the birds will nest in your birdhouses.

Place Nesting Materials Nearby

Another idea is to place nesting materials nearby. Generally, you don’t want to put nesting materials directly in the birdhouse.

This might make the birds think that the birdhouse is occupied. Birds like to build their own nests and certain birds prefer different nesting materials.

Look up the types of materials that are preferred by the types of birds that you want to attract. You can then hang baskets in your yard that are filled with various materials.

You might have materials such as twigs, hay, straw, bits of string, and other things that birds might use when building nests. Having convenient materials nearby should encourage birds to nest in the birdhouses.

Install the Birdhouses in a Safe Spot

Of course, you need to put the birdhouses in a safe spot. If you put the birdhouses in a spot where the birds will be bothered by predators, it’s going to be difficult to get good results.

You should install birdhouses in specific spots where they will be safe from predators. Sometimes it might make sense to install birdhouses on a pole rather than placing them on trees.

Snakes can be a problem for birds since they can slither up trees and hunt the birds inside of the birdhouses. Poles can be better since you can take steps to protect the birds.

For example, many people will use deterrent methods to keep snakes away from the poles. You can also make it harder for the snake to slither up the pole to get to the hanging birdhouse.

There are many methods that work well, but one involves wrapping a Slinky toy around the pole. It works surprisingly well to keep snakes at bay.

Final Thoughts

Now you know that birds will find birdhouses on their own. If the birds see the birdhouse as a convenient nesting spot, they’ll use it.

You can make the area more appealing to increase the chances of the birds nesting in your birdhouses. This involves putting feeders, baths, and nesting materials in your yard.

It’s also important to put the birdhouses in safe spots where the birds won’t feel as threatened by predators. Make wise choices and you should see birds in your birdhouses before too long.

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