Our cavity-nesting birds are running out of places to have babies. Here's how you can help.

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Our state’s population is skyrocketing, with people moving for milder weather and to enjoy beaches and mountains and beautiful country in between. But as fields and woodlands become neighborhoods, our cavity nesting birds are running out of places to have babies. If you can safely leave dead branches or even a dead tree on your property, you could end up with at-risk birds happily cohabitating with you. Woodpeckers can excavate a nesting spot and that site will then be used by screech owls, kestrels, or more than fifty other cavity-nesting birds. If you have a smaller yard, you can put up nesting boxes not only for birds but for the declining but important bats as well. My hometown of St. Matthews is full of houses for those aerial acrobatic purple martins.