12 Outdoor Birds That Like Birdhouses (& The Best Ones)

There are three types of bluebirds – eastern, western, and mountain – and all of them will gladly take shelter in a nesting box to keep their little chicks safe. Plus, bluebirds will help out by eating up pests.

For bluebirds, the ideal birdhouse is medium-sized, around 4 by 4 by 12 inches, with room to expand up to 5 by 5 by 12 inches. The entrance hole only needs to be 1 ½ inches wide – that’s big enough for bluebirds but small enough to keep out larger birds that might take over. Mount the house on a pole 4 to 6 feet off the ground, with the entrance facing east toward an open area like a field or wetland where bluebirds can find plenty of bugs to feed their babies.

Bluebirds start nesting anywhere from February to September, with the peak from March to August. To make your birdhouse as appealing as possible, point the entrance east – that’s where bluebirds will find the most insect-filled spots.

If you want some feisty little songbirds around, wrens are a great choice. These petite birds prefer nesting spots close to human activity. In return for a cozy birdhouse, they’ll reward you with lots of singing, especially during breeding season when the males can chirp up to 10 times per minute. The right wren house is compact, around 4 by 4 by 8 inches, with a tiny 1 ⅛-inch entrance hole that keeps out larger birds.

Wrens like hanging birdhouses or ones mounted on a pole 5 to 10 feet up to protect against ground predators. Some species, like Carolina wrens, will even use a hidden house nestled in tree branches and foliage.

Smaller swallows like tree swallows and violet-green swallows are happy to move into birdhouses too. The perfect size is about 4 by 5 ½ by 9 inches – about the same as a bluebird box with that 1 ½-inch entrance hole. Mount the house at least 5 feet up, and don’t bother with a perch outside, as swallows won’t use it and it may just attract unwanted birds like starlings.

Having swallows around is great because they eat lots of insects like flies and wasps, helping to keep those pests in check. They also enjoy a diet of insects plus berries.

Purple martins are a type of swallow that almost always rely on human-provided nesting boxes in the eastern U.S. These colony nesters do well in a multi-unit birdhouse or with several single-unit houses clustered together.

Purple martins need a bigger home – at least 6 by 6 by 10 inches, or 7 by 12 inches if you can swing it. The entrance hole should be 2 ¼ inches wide, or 3 inches wide by 1 3/6 inches high if you use a crescent-shaped opening to keep out starlings. Mount the house 12 to 20 feet off the ground, within 100 feet of your home, barn, or workshop where the martins can be near human activity.

You may not often spot Eastern screech owls in your yard, as they’re well camouflaged and more active at night. But if you put up a big enough birdhouse, these owls may move in. The box should be around 9 ⅝ by 11 ¼ by 17 ⅜ inches with a 3-inch entrance. You can even mount two boxes close together in case the owls abandon their first nest.

For Eastern screech owls, position the birdhouse 10 to 30 feet up a tree, facing east or south. Make sure there’s a nearby branch for fledglings to use as they get ready to leave the nest.

Woodpeckers are cavity-nesting birds, meaning they can dig out their own homes in trees. But if their natural habitat is shrinking, they may turn to a manmade birdhouse instead. The size you need depends on the woodpecker species in your area – downy woodpeckers need a 4 by 4 by 8-inch box, while the larger redheaded woodpecker needs 6 by 6 by 14 inches. Mount the house 10 to 20 feet up.

To make a woodpecker birdhouse even more tempting, fill it with sawdust or wood chips. This mimics the feeling of a decaying tree that woodpeckers would naturally excavate for nesting.