itrom.......Last year when chickadees took over our fave BB box after so many year of having only BBs in the box there were reclaim fights but the BBs did not win and we never saw any all summer and that was sad. That particular box is the one we can see easily and we love to watch them and take photos. There are two other boxes nearby so I kept asking myself why can't the cute chickadees just use those...lol. BBs have moved into the fave box and I hope there is peace! Good luck and enjoy whatever nests ...or...put up another box and if you do make sure you follow instructions as to how far from the fist one.

Glad you like it - I started on that site watching the barn owls (molly & magee) someone mentioned the Ga. bluebirds and I *immediately* went to check it out. They have been so funny this afternoon - each time the wind rocks the box - every little mouth opens wide expectantly!!

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.

We have one Audubon, and two of the Jack/Dan Finch boxes out of Bailey, NC. They're all poled & baffled. As we were unpacking last year, the new Audubon box was the first one we found, so it went up first. While it is a tad smaller than the Bailey boxes (to me it's less confusing than calling a BBird box a Finch box), we had two successful clutches last year. The Bailey box we put up last year ended up hosting Chickadees, but is in a less desirable location for Blues evidently. That's why this year we put up a third box, and it's a Bailey box - we'll see Who ends up Where, and in What box. I posted last year asking "is it the Box, or the Location they like?" and we're all not sure.... Good luck!!