Bird nesting boxes

Hi all, Thanks for allowing me to join.

A bit of advice please if possible, 

I put a bird nesting box on the side wall of my bungalow several years and it’s been used regularly by small birds which to me means it’s in a good safe place!

i would  like to know peoples opinions about me putting another nesting box up on the same wall not next to but fairly close. 

Thoughts please. 
Neil

  • Hello Neil and welcome to the Community.     nice to hear your current nest box has been successful.   Regarding the siting of another box on the same wall,  unless you can place it over 7+  metres away from the current box I would say not as birds are very territorial, especially during nesting season and could result in aggressive behaviour towards one another.    Birds may even abandon a box if the boxes are too close together.      

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    Regards, Hazel 

  • I agree with Hazy. An exception might be if the 'small birds' you mention were sparrows, as they can be encouraged to live close together, in a 'sparrow street' for example.

  • I’ve tried add a link to a photo of the pair of birds that use my box, I’ve no idea what they are sorry, I just love to watch them come and go with food for their young. 

  • Excellent! Yes, they're house sparrows, and the nest box is nice and high up under the eaves which is very suitable for them. In theory it should be okay to put nest boxes nearby if other sparrows used them (is there a larger group they are part of, perhaps seen feeding together?), but as Hazy points out, if other species of birds used them it could cause problems.

    I've never had sparrows use my nest boxes, despite a group of them using my feeders daily, so I don't speak from experience - perhaps others in the forum have direct experience