Why Birds Don't Use Your Birdhouse, According To An Expert

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A highlight for any Southern bird enthusiast is seeing their favorite birds congregate in the yard or garden, whether they are enjoying specialty bushes, birdhouses, or bird baths. Providing migrating birds with the right resources is helpful in bringing them to your yard, so it can be frustrating if despite your best efforts–there are no birds.

So, why aren’t birds using your birdhouse? A few factors might be at play, according to American Bird Conservancy’s Senior Conservation Scientist David Wiedenfeld.

“First, not all birds do use birdhouses,” Wiedenfeld tells Southern Living. “In fact, a relatively small proportion of species will use birdhouses.”

Wiedenfeld explains that there isn’t a clear pattern to which birds will and which birds will not use a birdhouse.

“Species that are closely related tend to either all use birdhouses or all not use birdhouses,” he says, adding that chickadees and titmice (related) all use birdhouses, and crows and jays (related) all don’t use birdhouses. “Some are mixed, though. For example, some owls will (such as) screech-owls and Barn Owls but other owls, like Great Horned Owls, won’t.”

• David Wiedenfeld is a Senior Conservation Scientist at American Bird Conservancy.

Wiedenfeld says that in the southeastern United States, common birds found in yards that use birdhouses include: House Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Tree Swallows in the northern part of the Southeast, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and sometimes other species like Carolina Wrens and White-breasted Nuthatches.

“Two introduced species, House Sparrow and European Starling, will also use