Starlings gratefully belt out their virtuosic 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 hang a starling box correctly.
How do you hang a starling box correctly?
In order to hang a starling box correctly, the entry hole should face east or southeast, be placed at least 2 m high and be free of disturbing branches. Make sure there is sufficient distance from other nesting boxes and choose a shady, protected location.
Hang up the starling box – which direction?
With a hole size of 50 mm, the entrance to the starling box is almost twice as large as the tit box. This makes the nesting aid particularly vulnerable to climatic influences. By hanging starling boxes with the correct direction, you ensure a safe, comfortable living environment inside:
- Ideal starling box direction: Entry hole points to the east or southeast
- Alternative orientation: loophole faces north or northeast
- Directions hostile to chicks: south and west
In a Central European garden, no bird house should face west or south. From these two directions either the rain hits the nesting box or the young starlings languish under the blazing sunlight.
Hang up a nesting box for starlings – how high?
Highly popular for starlings looking for a home is a nesting box at a dizzying height, easy to fly to and out of reach of curious human eyes or nest robbers.
- Hang the starling box at least 2 m high, ideally 5 to 10 m
- Free path on approach (no annoying branches within a radius of 1 to 2 m)
- Sufficient distance from 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 other species. The songbirds are therefore happy about a garden with several starling boxes, which nature-loving hobby gardeners hang side by side in treetops.
Attach the starling box – when and how?
A starling box should be in place at the beginning of March. At this time, starlings look for a safe home to raise their offspring. The actual breeding season extends from the beginning of April to mid/end of July. Prudent hobby gardeners hang up a starling box in the fall as a winter quarters for birds, insects and small mammals.
Please attach a starling box to the tree with stainless nails (€6.00 on Amazon), additionally secured with a covered wire. This procedure protects the tree from fatal injuries to the bark and cambium. If you hang a starling nesting box on the front of your house, metal brackets are useful for a stable, wobble-free position.
Hanging the starling box on the balcony – what to pay attention to?
Starlings have long since discovered urban habitats, as the world-famous flocks of starlings over Rome prove. Because large trees for nesting boxes are rare in cities, balcony gardeners hang a starling box. If you pay attention to these criteria, the feathered residents will quickly arrive:
- Hanging height: at least 2 m
- Location: shady to partially shaded, protected from rain and direct sun
- Safety: stable, no wobbling, ideally without a perch as a potential perch for nest robbers
Please ensure there is sufficient distance from climbing aids for hungry cats, such as climbing and privacy plants.
Tip
Titmouse, thrush, finch and starling are not the only winged garden dwellers with a housing shortage. Lesser noctules, horseshoe bats, long-eared bats and other native bats are in dire straits. By hanging a bat box in the garden or on the house facade, you are making an invaluable contribution to the preservation of endangered beneficial insects.
