Nest Box Use and Nesting Success of House Wrens (Troglodytes Aedon) in a Midwestern Wetland Park

Abstract

I placed 67 milk-carton nest boxes designed for Prothonotary Warblers {Protonotaria dtrea) in a suburban Indianapolis wetland park and monitored them during the 2000 nesting season. My intent was to determine if nest box use and/or nest success by warblers or other cavity nesters were influenced by distance to water, recreational activity, tree diameter, canopy shading, or box height. No warblers nested, but 19 boxes (28%) were used by House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon; 24 nests) or Carolina Chickadees (Poecile carolinensis; 1 nest). Only 23% of wren nests fledged young. Failures were due to predation, usually by mammals that ripped open the cardboard boxes. Tree diameter significantly influenced box use and potentially nest success (wrens preferred smaller trees). Other variables did not significantly affect box use or nest success. Milk-carton boxes were acceptable to House Wrens but were more vulnerable to mammalian predators in this suburban park than in studies of Prothonotary Warblers in wilder settings.