Many of the birds you mention aren't cavity nesters, so a nest box wouldn't matter. Probably chickadees are the most likely. If you put up a box for chickadees, of course make sure it's protected from predators with a baffle on the post or pole, especially since you mention cats and racoons. The hole size is 1 1/8", small enough that house sparrows and starlings won't be able to enter. One thing I read is that chickadees might prefer a larger hole to start with, like 1 1/4", and then once they have established use of the box, you can put a 1 1/8" hole reducer on.

Much depends on the habitat in your yard and in the surrounding area. Chickadees seem to like the nest box to be on the edge of a woody or shrubby area. A chickadee box might also attract house wrens, so I guess it depends on whether you want to potentially host them or not. You don't mention what state you live in, so I don't know if you have house wrens.

Other suggestions for nest boxes could be wood ducks (since you live near water), or even screech owls, which could use the same box as wood ducks. Or, you could try putting up an Owl Shack in the fall. I've got two up, no luck so far with screech owls, but the woodpeckers sure like to drum on that nice resonant box!

If you have many dogs and cats running around your neighborhood, then you might not get anything at all. If that is the case, then you might not want to try and attract wood ducks, because they have to jump out of the box to make their way to the water, and would be easy targets for cats.

Well, Mourning Doves or Robins will nest on a nesting platform. Maybe you could put one of those up? My House Finches cannot wait for me to hang my 10" hanging baskets of Boston Fern in April. As soon as the ferns go up, the House Finches come to build nests in them! They will also build in my 10" hanging baskets of geraniums. You just have to be very careful with watering once the nest is in and the eggs are laid. When the chicks get bigger, I don't take the pot down to water. I use my step stool, and just pour a wee bit in at a time on the side furthest from them. I have lots of little birdhouses available, and I always have at least one pair of Carolina Chickadees to nest each season.

Well, I thought I should start easy and put up one box and see how it goes. Sorry I didn't include enough info. I live in Northern IL. I live near a small made made wetland. My property borders on the edge of the wetland with a bunch of trees. Supposedly, there are house wrens in my area, but I have never seen one. I have only seen one wood duck passing through my yard. I do have tons of mallards.

Chickadee box
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Pros - small hole size means I probably don't have to worry about house sparrows or starling. There are a lot of chickadees in the area, I can see them flying through the trees at the edge of my yard. Boxes appear to be 5 foot tall and so would be easy to maintain.

Cons - Can't see inside the box.

Robin / Mourning Dove Platform
Pros - open design means I can see the baby chicks out in the open.
Cons - Not sure who else would nest there. There appears to be an increase of grackles lately. I have heard that they eat baby birds.

Duck box
Pros - Plenty of mallard ducks. Wetland doesn't have any sort of bass or large fish that would prey on ducklings.
Cons - Mallards are rather large. I wonder how big of a box I would need. A coyote also pass through my yard almost daily. He never catches any adults, but baby ducks will be vulnerable. I was also under the impression that duck houses have to be install on a hole in the water. I don't think the wetlands is part of my property.

I am thinking Chickadee would be the easiest option.

Paul

Ah, but you can see inside the box, if you put a camera inside. Chickadees aren't as tolerant of monitoring as bluebirds are, so the camera is a good option. See a video I have from a couple of summers ago.

Camera is something I would like to do in the future, but can be expensive. I figure I'll just put one up and see what happens.

I was wondering:

1. Got any recommendation for vendor for a Chickadee box? I was wondering what feature I should look for?

2. Does it matter which direction the hole face. I imagine having it face the house would be ideal.

3. Would it help to put a food source say 12 feet from the nest box?

4. What do you do to protect it from Raccoons and squirrels and may be snakes (even though I have not seen a snake in the area).

Paul

Mallards don't nest in a nestbox but Wood Ducks do. Any type of box you get should be a side/front or top opening box so you can clean it up after nesting season is done. Chickadees don't readily nest in a box that has a 1 1/8 opening, they prefer it 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 but a 1 1/8 reducer should be added after the first egg is laid to protect them from other birds. The nestbox should be mounted on a metal pole with a predator baffle. Opening should be faced away from the prevailing winds. A food source near the nestbox is not recommended, it will only entice predators to the box.

sialis.org has tons of info on native cavity nesting birds like the chickadee.

Donna