Most sparrows are not cavity dwellers, so they will not use a birdhouse. The exception, of course, are the aptly named house sparrows, which will set up housekeeping almost anywhere. They will nest in a backyard birdhouse, or nesting box, or improvise with porch rafters, roof gables, gutters, even hanging planters. House sparrows typically lay 5 or 6 pale gray eggs speckled with brown, several times over the season.
Song sparrows nest in early spring in grass and weeds; later in the summer about 4 feet off the ground in dense shrubs. Three to six eggs incubate for 12 to 13 days, then males raise the babies while females incubate the next clutch. Song sparrows begin laying eggs in April in the South and continue through August in the North.
Chipping sparrows prefer to nest in groves of conifers or landscape evergreens near houses where they build cup-like nests of grasses and rootlets lined with animal hair and fine grass about 25 feet off the ground. They lay 4 bluish-green eggs heavily marked with brown and black splotches and streaks, usually two clutches a season.
