You can attract wild birds outside your home by providing a nesting area - a birdhouse, a nest box, or plants. First, it helps to know the basics.

The Basics

For nesting platforms, nesting boxes or birdhouses, you'll want to consider

• the types of nesting places you can provide
• what makes a good birdhouse
• where and how to install a birdhouse
• care and maintenance: annual cleanup and periodic inspections

Types

Nesting shelters are primarily nest boxes that come in all shapes and sizes but typically have the shape of a traditional birdhouse. Nesting platforms, preferred by certain birds like robins and jays, are what the name implies -- a simple platform.

Build or Buy

Buying a shelter may be easier than building one, but quite a bit of the birdhouses for sale today are not designed to promote healthy wild birds. Building, on the other hand, requires tools and workspace, which may be problematic in a small outdoor space.

More Information

As you delve into birdhouses and other shelters, you may also be interested in

• building a birdhouse yourself
• birdhouse differences by species
• discouraging house sparrows and starlings