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After having quick success getting bluebirds to nest in one box at each of the paired sets I put out late this spring, I asked my neighbor across the street if he minded if I installing a box in the mulched area below his flag pole. His giant lawn area looked well suited to my purpose. Within an hour of erecting an X box design I was pleased to see a male bluebird prancing around on the box’s roof and soon there after bringing grass into the box. I did not see a female responding to his actions and a couple of hours later a pair of tree swallows had claimed the box with the female making countless quick trips from an area of dead grass into the box. Now I’m scrambling to get another box up on the other side of the flag pole in an attempt to tempt the original BB back. Nothing breeds excitement like quick success.
Hugh
Wow, that’s great Hugh! Sounds like they’re looking for nesting locations & you’re their solution! Best of luck with all this activity!
Nicole
How far away from the flagpole did you put the box? You don’t want any predator being able to reach or jump from the pole to the box. Assuming that is, that the pole the box is on is baffled.
Good luck getting the blues back. How far apart will the two boxes be? I had to go at least 25 feet apart to get to different birds nesting in paired boxes, any closer and the first bird to claim one box would protect both boxes. Some people to have success though having them closer than that.
Donna in WI
How far away from the flagpole did you put the box? You don’t want any predator being able to reach or jump from the pole to the box. Assuming that is, that the pole the box is on is baffled.
Good luck getting the blues back. How far apart will the two boxes be? I had to go at least 25 feet apart to get to different birds nesting in paired boxes, any closer and the first bird to claim one box would protect both boxes. Some people to have success though having them closer than that.
They’re only ~15 ft apart but it’s the farthest I can go and stay in the mulched circle. Each box is ~ 7 or 8 feet from the flag pole which is a slick metal one that would be darn hard to climb. I didn’t baffle the 1/2″ emt that the boxes are mounted on but did polish the heck out of it and gave it a good coat of slick car wax. It’s enough to keep the squires from climbing the pole up to my sunflower seed feeders so I believe it’s a decent deterrent. The tree swallows checked out the second box super intensely even as I was erecting it. There was a strong breeze and they nearly hovered directly over me as I worked. I’m sure being that close to their home was a large part of the cause for close scrutiny.
Just received permission from another neighbor to put a box or two on the mulched moat in her acre plus yard. After finding a piece of 4″ pvc pipe in our odds and ends that’s just long enough to make a couple of Gilbertson boxes the timing couldn’t be better.
Off to build a couple more boxes.
Cheers,
Hugh
Donna,
Here’s a quick update. This morning at 7:00a.m. I noticed the tree swallow pair making rapid high speed laps around the flag pole where both their box and the newly installed box are located. Closer inspection revealed a male bluebird sitting atop the new box. A half your later he was calmly perched on the box that the swallows already have a beautiful nest located in. He’s seeming unperturbed by the swallows high speed passes and looks intent to claim one of the two boxes.
Hugh
Just a quick update. A couple of days after the TRES built a beautiful nest including a nice feather lining a male bluebird began spending each morning on top of their nest box. Their high speed passes didn’t seem to phase him one bit. He also spent a good amount of time on the very top of the flagpole. Long story short, the mate he eventually found has been incubating their 4 eggs for the past 3 days in a very deep TRES constructed nest. I need to use a mirror to look down into it. They did remove the feather lining but did not alter the shape of the nest at all.
I hoped that the TRES might move to the second box I put up ~ 15 feet away but they took off to parts unknown.
Hugh
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