Facts on Birds & Bird Houses of the Northeast

Birdhouses are excellent ways to encourage habitation of your yard by cavity-nesting birds, which have suffered notably from habitat loss and invasive species. The Northeast harbors a number of diverse species that could be expected to use a properly sited nest box.

Cavity Nesters

Dead, standing snags are popular choices for cavity-nesting birds, but may be unavailable in developed landscapes.

Cavity-nesting birds are those that rely on holes and crevices in tree trunks, mud banks and other shelters that they themselves excavate, that other creatures have created or that have resulted from processes of decay. Often these nesting holes exist in snags, that is standing dead trees, which are characteristic of mature forests and less common in heavily developed landscapes.

Notable Species

Barn owls may nest in birdhouses in rural areas, as well as the rafters of outbuildings.

Erecting a nest box in a Northeastern yard or farm could attract everything from great crested flycatchers and brown creepers to barn owls and wood ducks. Design and placement can be used to increase your chances of attracting a particular bird. For example, brown creepers favor slab-bark houses on tree trunks.

Exotics

Non-native starlings may occasionally usurp a nest box.

Northeastern birdhouses also may attract introduced cavity-nesting species, which sometimes usurp the space from native birds. Common exotic nesters include European starlings and house sparrows. Careful maintenance and observation can help reduce these infiltrations.

References

• "U.S. Forest Service"; Cavity-Nesting Birds ... ; V.E. Scott et al.; Nov. 1977
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Homes for Birds

Resources

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Attracting Birds With Nest Boxes