— by Shannon Hogan, December 2, 2022
Do you want to give your favourite bird a cozy home?
If you have a dead-standing tree in your yard, you could leave it standing! If you don’t and you still want to provide cozy homes for birds, then the next best thing would be to build them a nest box!
Birds who love nest boxes the most are birds who naturally nest in tree cavities. Birds such as Violet-green swallows, tree swallows, purple martins and chickadees. Each of these birds usually has a favourite style of nest box as well. If you have a specific type of bird that you would like to attract to your property, make sure you do your research before you start building!
Here at Friends of Cortes Island, we wanted to attract some more swallows, so we built a small nest box that has a tiny hole for a swallow to enter. We also made sure not to include a perching peg near the entrance. This ensures that other birds won’t harass a swallow or its chicks while they’re inside the nest box.
This winter, try researching your favourite bird and build them a cozy nest box for the upcoming spring!
To find out more about building and maintaining the best nest boxes possible, check out these sites:
- https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Young/Nesting-Box
- https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/blog/bird-houses-nesting-boxes.html
- https://www.ducks.ca/resources/landowners/nest-box-maintenance-program/
We would love to hear about and post your Small Acts of Conservation Kindness on your property! Please submit your short story and tell us something fun about your project by reaching out to us at: friendsofcortes@gmail.com.
We welcome everyone to take action with us and become a member, donate or volunteer with us!
(Jim Parris, 2011) Green-violet swallow feeds her nestlings in nest box
(Shannon Hogan, 2022) Nest box on FOCI’s office, built to attract swallows!
Nest box hanging at the Gorge public dock, built to attract purple martins
