Spring begins the season of renewal. Even in our backyards we can see bugs appearing, birds nesting, and varmints stirring. Watching a family of wrens, chickadees, cardinals, or other feathered visitors nest in our yards is an amazing experience. Have you even witnessed a bird's mating dance, flight, feeding habit, or listened to its song? Have you ever seen a flaming red, male cardinal caringly feed his mate a carefully chosen black oil sunflower seed? Have you ever watched a male wren go about your yard building four to six nests, then see his mate choose the one she wants? To your dismay, she may also tear his nest up and build one in the same spot to suit her liking! If you want to see wild kingdom in your yard this year, you may want to put up a nest box to attract the birds.

Whether you decide to build or buy, here is some advice:

• Be sure you know what kinds of birds you want to attract. Each bird desires a specific size entry hole (door) to their family home. For example, a wren likes a 1 to 1 1/2" opening while a house sparrow is less choosy and will prefer 1 3/16" to 2" hole. You will note that sparrows often peck out smaller holes to fit their needs.
• The best bird houses have several features besides the basic requirement of being sturdy:
  • Built of untreated wood like pine or cedar
  • Designed with extended, sloped roof for water to run off
  • Include Ventilation and drainage holes
  • A back door or removable bottom so it can be cleaned out after a nesting
  • Constructed with no perches
• Locate the birdhouses in a safe location on either a pole or sturdy branch. General advice is place a house away from your feeders, out of strong wind currents, and preferably facing south or southeast.
• Put them out in March. But if you don't make it by then, you can put them out all spring because many birds have more than one brood.
• Provide nesting material close by (in a crevice of a tree or made into a wreath). This can be your hair from a cut or brush, dog hair, strips of yarn (8"), grass, or bundles of twigs.

Just one more bit of information: Not all birds in our yards use nest boxes. Robins, Carolina Wrens and Phoebes prefer a nesting shelf. Mourning doves, cardinals, blue jays, gold finches, hummingbirds, to name a few, build their nests in trees or shrubs.

For a great reference about nest boxes, go to www.nestwatch.org (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). They have an interactive field you can search for a list of birds in your area with a link to patterns to make a birdhouse. You can also become a citizen scientist and record valuable data about the successes and failures of nesting birds in your yard. Whether you buy or build a bird house, spring is a great time to add them to your backyard.

It would be great if the Broad Ripple and surrounding areas could become the desired habitat for nesting songbirds. It is fun to watch them choose a house, feed their chicks, and watch them fledge. There may be birds that would love to call your yard home. Birdhouses can be placed in backyards, schoolyards, parks, orchards, farms, pastures, cemeteries, and woodlots. This spring become a nest box landlord; find out what features make a birdhouse ideal, which species you can attract to your area, and how to troubleshoot any problems that arise. Visit Broad Ripple's own Backyard Birds.