Looks like I have a downy woodpecker roosting in one of my bluebird houses. Yay me! A few weeks ago we cleaned out the bird boxes for winter once I noticed the birds were checking them out in a flurry of hunting for winter roost spots. Winterizing involves removing old nests, wasps nests, general clean up. We had a lot of mud dauber nests this year inside the boxes which kind of bums me out and I am not exactly sure what to do about it. Someone recommended to me that I use Ivory soap on the inside, it will stop the wasps and not harm the birds. The lady who told me this is highly active in the birding world and I trust her opinions greatly. She has an unusual amount of knowledge and experience. Still I balked because it is soap. Ick. Out of approximately 12 boxes there were wasps in 10, and yes we do clean them mid-summer. All the nests but one were mud dauber, the last being paper wasps.

The cavity nesting species were out in force – titmice, nuthatches, the downys and chickadees. The Carolina wrens of course, being wrens, prefer to nest in my door wreath which later became my wall wreath due to their insisting upon staying in it. You can’t open the door at night with a door wreath featuring wren inhabitants and not have them fly in the house. Not good for the wrens at all.

So this morning I saw the male downy wake up and emerge from a bluebird box. It rather surprised me because the house he had favored previously was a Peterson’s style box but no matter. I am thrilled to have him. It is reported with the downy woodpecker that the males and females roost separately in cavities they each excavate, but I guess the male here has decided to forgo the work. Our bird houses are pole mounted with predator guards so hopefully he will stay safe and warm.

Some people take their bird houses down for the winter due to mice living in them, but I don’t have that problem. It may be the baffles I use on the poles – they keep snakes out, which is my primary problem with predators, so probably mice can’t get past them. Birds will roost in any box – think “any port in a storm”, but I really like the convertible styles which can be nest boxes in the summer and roosting in the winter. You can buy them at Bird Houses, Convertible Roosting Boxes.