Starlings gratefully belt out their virtuoso songs when the hobby gardener gives them a home. Direction, hanging height, time and choice of location guarantee a fully booked starling home. These top tips reveal how to properly hang a star box.

The entrance hole of the star box should face east or south-east

Hang star box - which direction?

With a hole size of 50 mm, the entrance to the star box is almost twice as large as that of the tit box. This makes the nesting aid particularly vulnerable to climatic influences. By hanging star boxes facing the right direction, you ensure a safe, comfortable indoor climate:

  • Ideal star box compass direction: entrance hole points to the east or south-east
  • Alternate Orientation: Loophole faces north or northeast
  • Chick-hostile cardinal directions: South and West

In the Central European garden, no aviary should face west or south. From these two points of the compass, either the rain hits the nest box (€49.85) or the young starlings languish under the blazing sun.

Hang up the nest box for starlings - how high?

A nesting box at a dizzy height is very popular for starlings looking for a home, easy to fly to and inaccessible to prying human eyes or nest robbers.

  • Hang the star box at a height of at least 2 m, ideally 5 to 10 m
  • Clear course on approach (no disturbing branches within a radius of 1 to 2 m)
  • Sufficient distance to nesting boxes of other bird species of at least 5 to 10 m (e.g. tits or robins)

Starlings like to live and nest in close proximity to conspecifics. The songbirds are therefore happy about a garden with several star boxes that natural hobby gardeners hang side by side in the treetops.

Attach star box - when and how?

A star box should be in place at the beginning of March. At this time, starlings are looking for a safe home to raise their offspring. The actual breeding season extends from early April to mid/late July. Prudent hobby gardeners hang up a star box in autumn as winter quarters for birds, insects and small mammals.

Please attach a star box to the tree with rustproof nails, additionally fixed with a sheathed wire. This procedure protects the tree from fatal injuries to the bark and cambium. If you're hanging a starling nest box on the front of your house, metal brackets are useful for a stable, wobble-free position.

Hanging star boxes on the balcony - what to look out for?

Starlings have long since discovered the urban habitat for themselves, as the world-famous swarms of starlings over Rome prove. Because large trees for nest boxes are rare in cities, balcony gardeners hang a star box. If you pay attention to these criteria, you will quickly find the feathered inhabitants:

  • suspension height: at least 2 m
  • position: Shady to partially shaded, protected from rain and direct sun
  • safety: stable, no wobbling, ideally without a perch as a potential perch for nest predators

Please make sure there is sufficient distance to climbing aids for hungry cats, such as climbing and privacy plants.

tips

Tit, thrush, finch and starling are not the only winged garden dwellers with housing shortages. Lesser noctule bats, horseshoe bats, long-eared bats and other native bats are in serious trouble. By hanging a bat box in the garden or on the house facade, you make an invaluable contribution to the preservation of endangered beneficial insects.

Category:

Animals in the garden