Red Bellied Woodpecker Goes House Hunting!

Red Bellied Woodpecker Inspects New Nest Box

We've had such good luck with Stovall Screech Owl Nest Boxes we though we'd try one of their Woodpecker "Houses" or nest boxes as we have seen woodpeckers occasionally visit the bird feeders.  We put up a Woodpecker Nest Box back in early December and lately a very large and attractive male Red Bellied Woodpecker has been checking it out - literally inspecting it. Its interesting to observe how careful he is to check out the inside the box before going to far in as his self-preservation instinct says - make sure its safe before committing. He seems to have a very critical eye for construction quality and quite the personality. We are hopeful he will call it his own and find a mate and start a family in the box this spring. The woodpecker nest box is smaller than a Screech Owl nest box with the most notable difference being a much smaller entrance hole. There is nothing more gratifying in birding than to put up a shelter for a specific bird species and then have success at getting them to nest. We'll see how things progress this winter and hope they decide to move in to the new house.