Building a Birdhouse for the House Sparrow
Building a birdhouse for House Sparrows is one of the easiest, simplest, yet really fun things to do. As House Sparrows are quite abundant and will nest in many places, all you need are simple materials and even simpler designs. Being small birds, House Sparrows need small birdhouses as well.
Anyone who is remotely into bird watching activities would have heard about many stories about House Sparrows taking over many birdhouses. This is actually true and House Sparrows have even been categorized under the classification “invasive” species.
You can settle for a birdhouse with a floor area of about 4 inches by 4 inches. The height can be anywhere from 9 to 12 inches. The simplest birdhouse that you can construct can have these dimensions and a single compartment. Make sure that you have a hinged roof to keep the rain out. The hinges on the roof will help you gain easy access to the inside of the birdhouse if ever you need to do some cleaning. There should be an access hole as well. This can be around 32 mm in diameter – that’s around 1.2 inches. You can play around with this figure and reach up to about 2 inches, or 50 mm. For a birdhouse with a height of 9 to 12 inches, the hole should be placed somewhere along the 6th or 7th inch from the floor.
Another great design for a birdhouse for a House Sparrow makes the most out of small spaces. In the urban areas, especially, we know how much of a premium there is for space. Why not build something like an apartment? Just get some plywood and create something similar to a book case, with compartments separated. A good number would be three separate compartments that would accommodate 3 breeding pairs at a time. Suggested dimensions are about 40 cm (15-16 in) for the length, 20 – 25 cm (7.9 – 9.8 in) for the height, and about 15 cm (6 in) for the width. Of course, you can play around with these measurements if you think that it won’t work for you. In order to build this multi-compartment birdhouse for House Sparrows, just imagine a rectangular wooden box with a slanted roof, such that the back panel is taller than the front one. Then on the inside, imagine something like a book case with two dividers, making for the three compartments. You can decide to make either the roof or the front panel removable to give you easy access to the inside when it is time for cleaning the birdhouse.
Related House- Sparrow Articles
Click to learn more About The House Sparrow
Click to learn more About The House Sparrow Nesting Preferences
Click to learn more About The House Sparrow Mating Habits
Click to learn more About The House Sparrow Feeding Preferences