Don't expect a jay or hummingbird to use a birdhouse you provide. Only "cavity nesters"—bird species that naturally nest in hollow trees or similar secluded shelters—will select a human-provided nest box. And not all cavity nesters readily adopt boxes. Here's a list of some of the birds that commonly use "bird houses":
- Some ducks, including wood duck
- Some owls, including barred and screech-owls
- Some woodpeckers, including downy and northern flicker
- American kestrel
- Some flycatchers, including great crested and ash-throated
- Some swallows, including tree, violet-green, barn, and purple martin
- Titmice
- Chickadees
- Nuthatches
- Some wren species
- Bluebirds
- Phoebes, including eastern and Say's
- Prothonotary and Lucy's warblers
