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Outdoor Birdhouses

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Outdoor Birdhouses

Outdoor birdhouses are a great option for those who want to attract birds to their yard. Bird feeders can attract birds for visits, but if you want birds to live in your yard, your best bet is to make your yard into a home for them. This is an extraordinarily easy task, since birds are looking for two things in a bird nest, shelter and security.

You can give security via outdoor birdhouses more so than with simple birdfeeders. A food source is nice, but a place to live is as essential for birds as for humans. Some birds prefer nesting high in the boughs of a tree, while other species merely want to be off the ground. There are yet other species such as quail and ducks that are mostly land bound in their nesting habits.

If you intend to build outdoor birdhouses your top priority should be researching the nesting habits of the species you intend to attract. For example hummingbirds are wont to build their nests of spider silk in trees, but require very small nests due to their correspondingly small size. Martins, finches, and starlings are quite different, and will happily nest inside hollowed out gourds or boxes placed at the top of a pole. Altering the entrance size will also change what species will be attracted to your birdhouses. The largest species that can fit through the opening as an adult will take up residence more often than not.