The benefits of putting up birdhouses in the fall

I live in San Antonio, Tx. and I have purchased a Chickadee Nesting Box and wanted to know if this would be a good time to attach it to a tree? Thanks for all the great information.

It's never too late or too early to put up a bird house. You can put houses up year round.

Some benefits of putting up birdhouses in the fall:

1. Birds will have plenty of time to locate them before the breeding season.

2. The houses will be well weathered by spring.

3. Some birds will use nest boxes as roosting sites in the winter.

When deciding on the placement of the houses in the yard, keep in mind the habitat requirements of the species you wish to attract. Chickadees find a cavity in a tree near a forest edge or use a nest box, usually 5-25 feet up in a tree. Try to place the box very close to an area with cover of a bush or small tree where mated pairs can find nesting materials, food and their young have a safe place to fledge.

Generally, in southern ranges the hole should face north or east to reduce heat "loading" during hot afternoons. In northern ranges, a south facing hole might actually help keep the inhabitants warm.

Unfortunately some bird populations appear to be declining and one factor might be due to the loss of nesting sites in dead trees and competition with other cavity nesting birds. Even in appropriately wooded habitat, people may remove dead trees in an effort to clean up; this limits the places where birds nest. Man made nesting boxes can simulate a cavity in dead tree and help decrease further declines. 

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