Building a nest box for wild birds can be one of the most gratifying projects a person can undertake. When placed in the proper habitat, a nest box or bird house may be occupied, defended, and filled with eggs almost immediately. The best nest box are simple, without elaborate details, void of paint and embellishment. The first nest box builders and skilled construction pros were woodpeckers, making homes by excavating cavities in tree trunks. By observing woodpeckers home one can learn much about avoiding predators, preventing drainage issues, and locating a nest to minimize the effect of extreme weather. When we build a bird house we try to think like a woodpecker.

Woodpeckers help other cavity – nesting birds because of their talent for building ideal homes. A woodpecker pair topically remains together for years, but the male and female chisel separate sleeping places. When nesting season arrives, rather than reuse a previous home, they excavate a new nesting cavity. In this way, each pair typically creates three tree cavities per year for roosting and nesting, all of which they vacate at the end of the breeding cycle.

This is important, not just for the many species such as bluebirds and martins, but also for the many species that nest outside of boxes. With care, woodpecker can provide housing that is nearly as god as natural nesting cavities. In some habitats, everything a bird needs, including food, shelter, and singing post, may be available- except for a suitable nesting cavity. By installing nest boxes in such otherwise ideal habitats, people can help to increase the carrying capacity of the land for these birds.

Some birds are now totally dependent on human housing, in part because natural housing is scarce. The responsiveness of these species to human provide nest boxes has encouraged the formation of organization, websites, publication and most important creative birdhouse builders who are constantly tinkering, with the goal of building increasingly better nest boxes.

The basic birdhouse design, technology is also providing new ways to attract, study and conserve bird. Technology is also allowing remarkable views of birds with in their nests. Social attraction, a method developed for attracting seabirds to nesting islands, is now being used to attract songbirds to backyards.