How to Build a Bird House

Learn how to build a bird house specific to the birds in your area. See the four different bird nest boxes we made and find out how you can do the same. This is a great project for kids and parents to do together.
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How to Build a Bird House

Select Nest Plans for a Bird in Your Area

The first step to building a bird house is finding out what birds live in your area. We have a lot of robins hanging around our house, so a robin nest box made perfect sense. We’ve seen several other birds in the neighborhood so we picked a few more – Mourning Dove, Eastern Bluebird, and Black-capped Chickadee.

To find out what birds will nest in your area, use the Right Bird, Right House search tool from NestWatch. Select the region you live in and what habitat is around you.

You’ll get a list of birds that are in the area selected. You can see how difficult the nest box is to build plus where to attach it (on a building, in a dead tree or live tree, or on a post or pole). This information can help you decide which nest box to choose.

Download Bird House Plans from NestWatch

Once you’ve chosen the bird species you want, click “see this plan” in order to get the building plans for the nest box. In order to download the construction plans, you’ll need to enter your e-mail address. Hover over preview to see what the finished nest box will look like.

The next box plans tell you what size piece of lumber you need to get. It also includes the measurements for all of the cuts and what the completed boxes look like.

Build the Bird Houses

Follow the nest box plans to measure and draw your cuts on the wood board. Double check everything and then make your cuts and drill your holes. Below you can see the pieces of the chickadee bird house.

The American Robin nest box plans are labeled as kid-friendly. The cuts are pretty simple but there are some angles that need to be correctly measured. The robin bird house is really a nest shelf. It’s an open box with a roof. Robins like to nest next to buildings under the shelter of the roof.

The easiest nest plans to follow were the Mourning Dove’s nesting basket. It’s simply a piece of hardware cloth cut into a circle. Cut out a small wedge and then form the cloth into a cone.

We found the chickadee and bluebird nest boxes to be fairly straightforward. The kids were able to help build them as well. The hardest part is cutting the entrance holes. An adult should take care of that part.

We built our bird houses out of pine because it’s inexpensive. Then, we coated the outside wood in a layer of flaxseed oil (also called linseed oil) to help protect it. Be sure to soak your oiled rags in water when finished and dispose of them properly.

To increase the chances of nesting success, you can install predator guards.

Where to Place Your Bird House or Nest Box

On the page where you downloaded the nest box plans, NestWatch also has information for where to place the nest boxes. You’ll find out where to attach the nest, how high, which direction to face, and how much space should be between two of the same type of bird house. You can also read helpful tips that will increase your chances of nesting success.

We placed our chickadee bird house in the back corner of our yard on the fence pole facing away from the prevailing wind. We used u-bolts to attach the nest box to the pole.

Our neighbors have a large tree in their yard next to the fence. This should make our nest box more attractive to the chickadee parents. They like to have a tree for the fledglings to hang out it in after they leave the nest.

There is a little maple tree in our front yard. That is where we placed the Mourning Dove nesting basket. The nest cone gives the doves a solid base for their nest, so they’re more likely to choose this location. Now we just need to wait for the tree to grow its leaves so the doves will have some shade.

Observe the Nests and Collect Data

If birds use your bird houses to nest, you can monitor the nests and collect data for The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch program. Become a certified NestWatch monitor through their online program and learn how to collect the data they need. Be a citizen scientist in your own backyard!

Bird Songs by Betsy Franco

Bird Songs is a backwards counting book full of beautiful backyard birds and their sounds. After the sun rises you hear the tat tat tat (10 times) of the woodpecker and the coo coo coo (9 times) of the Mourning Dove. We also hear chipping sparrows, a gull, chickadees, mallards, a crow, a robin, a thrasher, and a hummingbird. The sun sets and all is quiet until the mockingbird repeats all of the songs it heard during the day.

My kids and I enjoyed reading this book and mimicking all of the bird calls. You also have the added benefit of counting the number of times each bird sings. How many birds can you and your children identify? Do you have any of these where you live?

Storybook Science

The second week of our Storybook Science series features environmental science and conservation ideas. Follow along with the rest of our Storybook Science here. Bloggers will be sharing a new science idea inspired by a children’s book throughout the month of March.