Comfortable birdhouse yet no inhabitants (1 Viewer)

[VelmaDinkley]

Hi!

Is there a certain way to prepare a bird house? My parents bought a little house and mounted it on the outside wall of the house in their garden. Is away from the reach of humans, besides, there are no people right there except them. The main goal was for it to be a shelter for sparrows or tomtits. And so it has been there for the last two or three years but only twice a family of sparrows have moved it. We all wonder why. Is it because winters are getting warmer or do they not like it?

The feeder that stands right next to the house is busy as a beehive in winter but the birdhouse not so much.

 

[Deb Burhinus]

Hi VelmerDinkley

Welcome to Birdforum! This may not apply to your situation but if bird feeders are too close to a nest box, this would deter birds using the nest box as feeding birds could disturb nesting birds and attract predators - roosting birds may be deterred from roosting near busy feeders for much the same reason. Gardens with busy bird feeders can attract the interest of predators. Bird boxes should be at least 20 feet away from any feeders. Also, the bird box ought really to be at least 10 feet off the ground and in a sheltered area with the entrances pointing away from the prevailing wind. If all that is fine, be patient, House Sparrow groups can be a bit nomadic and it's hard to encourage them to be faithful to one site. My flock of (20+) House Sparrow were spooked by a Sparrowhawk in the garden for a few days about 3 weeks ago and I haven’t seen them since. It’s very likely they have found another roost site for the winter.

 

[VelmaDinkley]

Oh thank you Deb!
You may be right. It is quite close because the entire space is not very big. I will see if we can do something about it or we will just buy and mount another bird house