Birds That Use Nest Boxes in North America

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    Matthew Young - Bird Expert

    By Matthew Young

    Matthew Young is co-author of the Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada in addition to being the Founder and Board President of the Finch Research Network. Matthew also worked at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology across 15 years where he worked on Golden-winged Warblers, Voices of Hawaii’s Birds, Merlin Bird ID, and was Project Lead on Lab’s first Irruptive Finch Survey in 1999. Widely known as a preeminent authority on finches of North America, Matthew has written finch species accounts for breeding bird atlases, Birds of the World accounts, and published several papers on finches and the Red Crossbill vocal complex. Full Bio →

    Bluebirds are some of the most beautiful birds in North America, and back in the 1970s bluebirds were in fast decline. The Bluebird Society formed in 1978 and started the nest box program, and they have since rebounded considerably.

    Several songbird species utilize nest boxes, including wrens, bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches. Other species that may use nest boxes also include some swallow and flycatcher species.

    Species that use nestboxes with some level of regularity

    • Wrens: House Wren, Carolina Wren, and Bewick’s Wren
    House Wren, Photo Credit Matt Young

    House Wren, Photo Credit Matt Young

    • Bluebirds: Eastern Bluebird, Western Bluebird and Mountain Bluebird
    Mountain Bluebird, Photo Credit Matt Young

    Mountain Bluebird, Photo Credit Matt Young

    • Chickadees: Black-capped Chickadee, Carolina Chickadee and Boreal Chickadee
    Black-capped Chickadee, Photo Credit Matt Young

    Black-capped Chickadee, Photo Credit Matt Young

    • Titmice: Tufted Titmouse, Oak Titmouse and Bridled Titmouse. It should be noted that Chickadees and Titmice are in the same Paridae family.
    Tufted Titmouse, Photo Credit Matt Young

    Tufted Titmouse, Photo Credit Matt Young

    • Nuthatch: Brown-headed Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch and White-breasted Nuthatch
    Red-breasted Nuthatch, Photo Credit Matt Young

    Red-breasted Nuthatch, Photo Credit Matt Young

    • Swallows: Tree Swallow and Voilet-green Swallow. Purple Martin also use nestbox/nesthole colony structures
    Tree Swallow, Photo Credit Matt Young

    Tree Swallow, Photo Credit Matt Young

    Purple Martin Colony, Photo Credit Matt Young

    Purple Martin Colony, Photo Credit Matt Young

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