The Audubon Wood Duck nest box can be used by female Wood Ducks and other cavity nesting ducks and owls. It has a front panel that opens for nest checks and maintenance, while a latch at its base keeps the door securely closed. This nest box can be modified into a convertible nest-and-roost box fairly easily and it is available at BestNest. Also available at BestNest, the Coveside convertible nest-and-roost box is a perfect birdhouse option for bluebirds and other cavity nesting species that need a 1½-inch wide entrance hole.

Take it one nest box at a time, or make an afternoon of it, but if you haven’t already prepared your next boxes to be ready for spring nesting activities – especially nest site selection – it’s a good bet to take a look at your birdhouses. Whether you specialize in nest boxes for cavity nesting songbirds, or if you have a big nest box or 2 for cavity nesting owls and ducks, fall is a prime time to do some simple “housekeeping,” make any repairs, make a modification, or you may even think about adding a new birdhouse.

Nice fall weather can be a good motivator to check on your nest boxes inside and out before winter weather sets in. Most birders remove old nests and other material inside their birdhouses, which is generally a good idea if you want to control mites, blow fly larvae, mice, bees, and other potential mini-invaders. It’s also a good time to make simple repairs, such as replacing a screw, adding a nail, fixing a hinge; or replacing an old birdhouse entirely.

A lack of natural tree cavities or woodpecker-created cavities is a limiting factor for all species of cavity nesting birds, so every nest box can benefit a cavity nesting species each year. In fact, a nest box can be an even safer nest site than a natural cavity, as long as it has appropriate predator-proofing. To learn more about nest boxes and cavity nesting birds, a great source of information is NestWatch, which provides a wealth of information for getting started or improving your birdhouse activities (see the NestWatch link below).

A good birdhouse will have a hinged side or front panel that you can open to properly monitor its use and condition. The ability to open a birdhouse is important so you can easily clean it after each time it is used by nesting birds, and at the end of each nesting season. If you have a nest box that cannot be opened to monitor, clean, or maintain it, consider adding that important option by making a pretty simple modification. Remove the screws or nails from a side panel and replacing them with 1 or 2 hinges and a latch that keep the panel tightly closed. Also, if a nest box hasn’t been attracting nesting birds for a couple seasons, you may want to move it to a potentially more attractive location in habitat favored by the species you wish to attract.

Be sure to check your predator proofing too, to ensure it is still functional to keep raccoons, snakes, squirrels, chipmunks, and similar predators from accessing your nest box. Predator proofing is absolutely essential to ensure that cavity nesting birds, their eggs, and their nestlings are safe during the period they use your nest box. There are a number of ways to protect a nest box from predators, including the use of a baffle.

You may want to consider replacing a birdhouse too. As noted above, each birdhouse you buy or build should have a panel that opens to allow you to view and access the interior and make simple maintenance checks. If you are interested in replacing a nest box, or adding a new one, consider trying one of the new “convertible” nest-and-roost boxes. These impressive boxes are just catching on, but they are the best thing to come along for birdhouses since a predator baffle.

A “convertible” nest-and-roost box is a nest box that allows you to easily reposition the front panel of the box that has the entrance hole, so it is positioned at the bottom of the box during fall and winter to convert it into an improved roost box. With the entrance hole positioned at the bottom, the interior of the box retains warm air better, because the warmer air generated by the bird rises and stays inside the box. Temporary perches are installed inside the convertible box so the bird or birds can perch above the entrance level in the warmer area of the box. That’s when it can be most efficiently used as a winter roost site by bluebirds, chickadees, or other small cavity nesting birds,

In advance of the nesting season, you can convert the box into a nest box by removing the perches and reversing the front panel so the entrance hole is positioned near the top of the box. That way, the nest, eggs, nestlings, and incubating birds that are positioned at the bottom of the box are safer in the usual nest box style.

You can also modify an existing nest box into a reversible nest-and-roost box. Simply remove the nails or screws that attach the entrance panel to the rest of the nest box; then flip the front panel upside down, and screw it back into place. After you have done this once, you may find an easier or better way to make the flip, but for now, you get the idea – give it a try.

A larger nest-and-roost box can be especially useful if you are interested in attracting one of the small owls, like a screech owl. We are not aware of any convertible big nest boxes, so we are limited to modifying a big nest box in the same manner as you would for a bluebird or chickadee nest-and-roost box described above. The extra effort you make in modifying a box to make it a convertible nest-and-roost box will pay off the day when you see one of the exciting cavity nesting birds using it as a winter roost site – and it provides a great service for the bird or birds that utilize it.

When the weather turns cold or rainy, fall can also a good time to build a new convertible nest-and-roost box or 2, which may be an even better option than modifying an existing nest box. You can even make that project something to share with a young family member. It will certainly stand as a favorite shared memory.

You can learn more about nest boxes, birdhouses, and cavity nesting birds at NestWatch, which is a great information source to get started or to improve your birdhouse experiences at All About Birdhouses - NestWatch

If you are interested in buying a new nest box for bluebirds, chickadees, owls, ducks, and other cavity nesting birds, check out the variety of birdhouses available from BestNest at BestNest.com: Bird Houses. Buy a Bird House at BestNest.com!

BestNest also offers the impressive Coveside convertible nest-and-roost box at Coveside Convertible Bird House/Winter Roost at BestNest.com – it’s a big upgrade from a simple nest box or roost box for birders to use.

In the meantime, enjoy the birds that use your birdhouses, and appreciate it’s a great time of the year to maintain, upgrade, replace, or add a nest box, just as it is a fine time to modify a nest box into a nest-and-roost box – give it a try.

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