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I guess my current and biggest example of this is I have 2 pairs of bluebirds nesting 100ft apart and within view of each other. That’s not unheard of in the South where bluebirds are plentiful but up here in NW Ohio bluebirds will only nest about 300 ft away from each other. The only exception is if it isn’t within sight of each other, like one in the front of my house and one in the back.
I have boxes paired and it works most of the time. I have mine about 20ft apart.
Are you worried about your bluebird box on your garden fence. I would be afraid that eventually a raccoon or snake will cause havoc.I agree Bluebirds will nest anywhere. But sometimes it doesn’t work out well for them. Like my daughter’s treed yard was great at first until House Wrens took over. And now it really isn’t safe for them there. Now there’s a pair in her neighbors mailbox slot. It’s working but definitely not safe.
Tammy
They do rotate their eggs regularly. Sometimes if your worried that the eggs were abandoned you can put dots on the egg with marker, take a photo, and then compare it a few days later. If the dots are in different spots than the picture you know the parents are still tending to the nest.
It doesn’t hurt if the female flies out. They’re committed to that box. Sometimes they stay on the nest.Tammy
Great, Roger! They’re fun. They will get used to a sparrow spooker easily too if you’re worried about a HOSP getting those eggs. (HOSP=House Sparrow)
But one good thing about Tree Swallows is that they are a little better guarding their nests.
If you use a Spooker you only put it on after the first egg is laid.Tammy
Tim,try the one PhillyBlues suggested.
https://postimages.org/
Use the “Hotlink for forums” option.
You don’t even need to sign in.
I hope it’s safe. I’ve Googled it and it seems OK.Tammy
You can even blink or you’ll miss it. No bathroom breaks when you are trying to catch it. I’ve given up trying to catch fledge day.
Tammy
Cool Ira.
I have two nests going on in sight of each other only 100 feet apart which is a first for me. Usually I can have them that close only if the house is between the two boxes blocking the view. Usually they are the typical 300 feet.Tammy
There’s no way to really know and you listed all the possible scenarios, except also a House Sparrow attack. I’m like you and usually the eggs are still in the nest until I remove them. Usually if it’s a House Wren or a House Sparrow, eventually all the eggs will end up missing. Do you know about Sparrow Spookers? They really do help with House Sparrow competition. But they don’t help with House Wren attacks. There’s also Wren Guards for that. Do you need some links explaining those things?
Tammy
It’s hard to know, what to do. You’ll have to just make the final decision. Here’s my thoughts though.
The bluebirds could just be curious. They start looking at other nestboxes even while they have a nest full of babies. They love to peek in holes.
Usually it takes a few more days than a week for them to start new nests but it does happen. They are usually out training and feeding their fledglings.
What makes that nestbox undesirable? Does it open so you can monitor the nest? If it doesn’t have anything really wrong with it then I would just leave it until the end of this next nesting cycle. But I also think that if you went out and put up the other nestbox quickly that they wouldn’t have any problem bonding with that box. But I hate to tell you to do that and then have them disappear. It’s a guessing game.
If you can’t open the box to monitor then that’s an issue. The most fun part of being a bluebird landlord is watching what happens in your box and it’s wise too so you know if you need to step in and help.
Is the box deep enough? Or is it more like a house wren smaller box? That would be another big problem.Is there nesting material already in the box? How much? Half of a nest? That’s might sway me to let them nest.
Here’s a last suggestion: How quickly can you switch boxes? If it’s a quick procedure, put it up on a day where he is investigating the box and see if he is curious about this new box and goes in. If he does than you are safe. You could even put it up temporarily besides the older box. I once used a pitch fork to do a temporary box. I stuck the pitch fork in the ground and somehow attached a box to it temporarily. I think I did it to trap House Sparrows.
Keep us posted on what you do.Tammy
Ay yi yi. Sorry. I’ll let Cher know but I think we are out of ideas. But the mail system here is hard to navigate anyway. This platform I think is not being supported anymore so it doesn’t work the greatest. And it didn’t work so well to begin with. We had a very busy group on another platform but the ads starting coming in ferociously so we had to change.
Tammy
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