Second Option

Site 2

If the owl boxes goes unoccupied the entire winter(s) into spring, about april its pretty safe to call it a lost season screech owl wise (site 8 is an exception). However its just the beginning of songbird nesting season. So Site 2 got fitted with a bluebird house. A homemade Gilwood style box (building directions).
However this site has lots of house sparrows around, house sparrows are to bluebirds (well any cavity nesting native songbirds) as squirrels are to screech owls. Well somebody came up with a solution that works fairly well. Monofilament, as in fishing line. For some reason house sparrows are spooked by it and native songbirds are not. So if you do try to get bluebirds or tree swallows but have house sparrows, (and don’t have it in you to trap and dispose of them) try some monofiliment designs. The one on this Gilwood box, allowed chickadees to have a successful nest last year, and it looks like bluebirds are nesting this year.