The spacing blocks will allow you to open the box easily. Placing Birdhouses Birdhouses should be placed in fall or winter, if possible. Swallows may use nest boxes set out during late May or early June, but owls, chickadees, and woodpeckers begin looking for nest sites during February, March and April. Always face the birdhouse so the entrance is protected from prevailing winds. Waterfowl nest boxes must be placed on secluded posts or trees within 100 feet of lakes, ponds or streams with surrounding dead trees or forests.
Mergansers prefer to nest on small inlands.
Buffleheads and Common Mergansers will use nest boxes a few inches to a few feed above ground or water, but nest boxes near the ground are likely to be raided by foxes, weasels or other predators. Common and Barrow's Goldeneye nest boxes should be placed 15-20 feet above the ground or water. Kestrel nest boxes should be placed at the edge of a forest area or on a post in an open area 12-20 feet above the ground. Woodpecker nest boxes should be placed 6-20 feet above the ground, though Hairy Woodpeckers prefer nest sites 12 feet or more above the ground. Common Flickers nest in open areas and open park-like areas, while Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers prefer open deciduous forests.