 In the Truckee Meadows, spring may take its time, but it will come. And when you imagine tender crocus shoots and daffodils pushing through the ground, do you also imagine birds flying back and forth to a birdhouse carefully hung in your yard? The idea is charming. But to make it actually happen you need to do more than just hang a pretty house. Many birds don’t use birdhouses, or nest boxes. Only cavity nesters are attracted to them, and in Northern Nevada the list of these birds is fairly short. It includes some types of wrens, owls, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, wood ducks, and bluebirds.It also includes starlings—which are considered nuisance birds because they take over other birds’ nests. You won’t find doves or robins using your birdhouse. They prefer a more open space such as the crotch of a tree limb. The type of bird that will settle in your birdhouse depends on the style and size of the birdhouse, where you place it, and where you live. Generally, small birds use small houses, larger ones need more space. You may attract flickers in the forest, wood ducks near water, and bluebirds next to open meadows and fields. In an urban or suburban backyard, your birdhouse may be most useful to wrens and sparrows. However, don’t expect birds to readily inhabit a house without some attention on your part. Karen Kish, president of the Reno-based Lahontan Audubon Society stresses that “proper placement of the house plus careful maintenance and cleanliness in and around it are critical aspects of creating a successful nesting area.”
Additionally, to create successful nesting areas, you have to think beyond the birdhouse; Kish encourages people to create healthy backyard environments for birds. “The most important consideration for attracting birds in your yard is providing habitat, which includes shelter, food, and water,” she says. Just as you wouldn’t move to an area that didn’t offer shelter, food, and water, neither will birds. You may attract birds, first, with a small fountain that provides running water on cold mornings when most water is frozen or with bushes where they can safely hide. You may add a feeding station or build a feeding platform to attract hungry birds. Once they know your yard, the birds may decide to move into a birdhouse. To make the house more enticing, do what you can to make it a safe haven. Jacque Lowery, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Reno suggests, for instance, facing the entrance away from prevailing winds during the cold season so birds will use it for winter roosting.  When choosing or creating a birdhouse, make sure it’s actually good for the birds. Kish says, “Most of the ‘cute’ ones don’t serve the birds well.” Lowery cautions that a decorative house with a metal roof or a ceramic house can create a danger to nesting birds because it becomes so hot in our spring sunshine. Lovely little perches may seem helpful to a feeding mother-bird, but they are also convenient for predator birds that may kill the chicks inside. And smooth interiors may please a woodworker, but they don’t provide a rough surface for young fledglings to grip as they climb out of the nest for the first time.
Follow these steps to create the best possible chance that birds will utilize your birdhouse:
• Decide what types of birds are likely to be attracted to your yard and build or buy a birdhouse with the proper specifications for them (see sidebar).
• Be sure the birdhouse has ventilation and a way for you to open and clean it after the nesting season is over.
• Don’t use toxic stains or treatments on the birdhouse.
• Place the birdhouse at the proper height from the ground. This varies according to bird species (see sidebar).
• Provide the other things birds need: shelter—such as bushes—water, and food—from plants and/or feeders.
• Now take your time, watch and wait. With some luck, you’ll find some feathered tenants moving in, and that dream you’ve had of a bountiful spring may manifest in real baby birds growing up in your backyard. Susan M. Botich is a Minden-based freelance writer.
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