The starling-resistant woodpecker house intrigued me; I googled and put up a link. I've put up boxes for woodpeckers before, and it ends up being a full-time job chasing the starlings out. Let us know if the new box works out, i think i can make a similar version at home.

Any bird house with an entrance 1 1/4 inches or larger can be used by a house sparrow, i work hard to discourage those. Entrance holes of 1 1/8 inches are low maintenance, its good for chickadees and wrens. If you like robins, a simple nesting shelf under the eave of the house works like a charm.

Bluebirds i guess are my favorite; you need some open habitat and have to control the sparrows. There's a naturenet forum for bluebirds with a ton of info.

Here is a link that might be useful: starling resistant flicker house

The link you posted is were I got my nestbox and thats the one. I am trying this because with the size of the entance hole, if I got the regular nestbox, I think i would have Starlings or House Sparrows.

I do have lots of boxes scattered around here including some for the little guys like the chickadees with the 1 1/8 inch entrance holes and l 1/4 for nuthatches (never had a nuthatch want to nest).

I have bluebird type boxes so have to watch carefully to make sure House Sparrows do not move in.

I am going to do a home made clear entrance hole blocker on the downer woodpecker box by using a large clear plastic soda bottle that I will cut and use part of. Should work. Remains to be seen if the woodpeckers will take to it.

Will post updates if I get any takers.

So, yesterday I put up my Downey Woodpecker box. I made a home made clear entrance hole blocker from one of those clear deli containers that one gets potato salad, the 2 lb size. I was going to use the soda bottle but it did not work out after I cut it.

I had to put the entrance hole restrictors on one of my chicadee boxes pecked over the winter by a woodpecker and yesterday had to also put one on another chicadee box that the woodpeckers just started on this spring. So I know they must check out the nestboxes while they are here getting suet and checking the tree branches for bugs.

My Flicker box is up and I am interested to see if anything notices it. The Red Bellied Woodpeckers are around here everyday and I know they are interested in nesting because I see them picking fights with each other, drumming and calling. They come here to get the suet which makes them notice other things in the yard. At least thats the plan.

I have never seen the Downey Woodpeckers look at my box in spite of the fact that they must fly over it many times each day coming and going to the suet feeder.

The chicadees are around again multiple times each day. They were here weeks ago and there was a spell were they were not here for awhile. I have some boxes with small entrance holes they can use so hopefully they will pick one of them and be safe from the larger birds.

Hi, I have A Heath Deluxe Purple Martin House  12-Room, Model# AH-12D. I need to buy Starling Resistant Entrance Holes. Where can I get them for this PMH? Thank you!

I don't think it is possible to make holes starling resistant in purple martin houses. Starlings can get in the same size holes as purple martins.

The martin house should be on a pole that is readily lowerable for inspection. You need to aggressively control the starlings, removing any nesting material they place in the boxes. You also may want to consider trapping and disposing of the starlings.

You can not dispose of the starlings legally as they are considered migratory birds. Just a FYI to prevent hassels.

Most people will not complain but some might. Beter to just remove the nesting material.

Sorry to contradict....European Starlings are NOT protected birds and you CAN dispose of them. They are not Native birds. Personaly I don't have trouble with them and have never had to kill a bird. Some have been left with no choicebut to do so.

Just you everyone is aware of what birds are on the list of protected birds. There are additional birds that are protected locally.

Here is a link that might be useful: Protected migratory birds

Well I'll be horn swaggled..........learn something new everyday! I know lots of Purple Martin folks that dispose of them. I only have a few that come through now and then, glad they dont pose a problem here!

The European Starling Sturnus vulgaris is not on the list provided by maifleur and is not a protected bird.