Nature Done Wright

Incorporating the Celery Farm and Screech Owl Companion blogs

April 14, 2018

Free Bluebird Nest Box Plans

JW maie Bluebird atop nesting bo In recent columns for The Record and Herald-News, I have offered readers free plans to build nest boxes for Eastern Bluebirds. The plans, by Stiles Thomas, are part of a 1959 article on attracting birds, which appeared in a Rodale Press organic gardening magazine in 1959.

The first column, which you can find here, also described how Stiles became the Bluebird Man of Bergen County.

Not sure how many folks downloaded the plans then, but more than 60 folks sent self-addressed envelopes to get a copy of the article and plans.

I did a second column, which appeared last week, and offered to send the plans by e-mail.

So far, more than 240 readers have requested the plans. The headline onthe second column had the word "free" in it, so maybe that helped. :- )

If you want to download the plans directly, here they are.

Download Stiles plans(1)

A few thoughts:

* You can also buy a bluebird box kit at a birding supply store, but not sure if the dimensions are the same.

* Ideally, boxes should be placed in an open area.

*If you act quickly, you might get a couple of bluebirds to move in this spring — especially if the box is near a field.

*If you plan to put up more than one box, keep them 300 feet from each other to reduce territorial disputes. And if house sparrows move in, feel free to evict them and remove their nesting materials. There are plenty of house sparrows to go around — bluebirds, not so much.