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Brad, I think I would put it slap in the middle of the backyard and move the seed feeder. Eight feet from the fence is not far enough.
No to the location between the goal and yellow shrub but maybe you could put it just inside your property line in the front yard, about 6 feet or so from the road.
In any case, try to face the box away from prevailing winds. Facing northeast is always a good choice.
I don’t know what’s going on here, Lisa, but I’m ok with it. I don’t have to have baby birds. Seen and helped a gazillion.
Ok. How far away does the seed feeder need to be? I moved the box out about 15 feet from the fence today and the wren starting filling it with sticks within 15 minutes.
Ok, here’s the possible spots in my yard. The photos make distances look greater than they are. It feels more closed in in person. Ignore the weeds and lack of mulch. I’ve been completely redoing my landscaping and killed and restarted my yard last fall. :)
Current location (house wren filling box with sticks) – would moving it out 8 feet or so from the evergreens and fence be enough? This is my preferred spot.
This is the other location in the backyard, but it’s close to a fence, bird bath, and lots of tree limbs nearby:
I could put it square in the middle of the backyard, but my seed feeder is only about 25 feet from there and active with lots of birds so I thought that might not be the best choice.
Front yard location, without a ton of grassy area but more open than the back. Here I would put it somewhere between the yellow shrub and basketball goal I guess. Maybe on the other side of the shrub in the natural area:
thoughts?
Hey Brad- I’ve got a small yard too & have my bluebird box in front yard with a big obnoxious baffle. Lots of cars & people walk by on nearby sidewalks. Had 3 EABL broods last year (15 total fledged) & 5 baby TUTI (tufted titmice) in there now. Put up a box in back this year & that’s where EABL are now. I can’t believe I haven’t heard from the HOA!
Does your small yard have much open area? Now that the trees have filled in with leaves my 1/4 acre just doesn’t have much open area like people say the bluebirds prefer. But I know they’re here, I hear them all day from my office window and see them sometimes. I saw a male hunting today and swoop in and pick up a bug off the street. That was pretty cool.
I think my issue is finding somewhere to put the box that predators won’t have easy access and the house wrens won’t like.
I know it’s house wrens now. I heard them today and he starting building his dummy nest twice more. I cleaned it out and left the box open. I’m a bid discouraged about where to put it at the moment. I’ll try to take pictures tomorrow but any input is welcome.
The trees would be about 10 feet above the box. But that location is only 30 feet from my feeder for other birds. Who knew it would be so hard to find an acceptable location in my little yard.
There is a decent spot in my front yard, but I thought that even though I live in the back of a quiet neighborhood, the slight car and human traffic would deter the birds. Maybe not. Either way, it’s a less desirable option as the predator baffle isn’t the most attractive thing to have in a front yard.
I hadn’t really wanted to, but I could put it in the middle of my grass in the backyard I guess. It still wouldn’t be easy to get it far enough from that line of evergreens that the wrens or whatever came out of to access my box where it is now. I didn’t think a single row of evergreens would be too much, but perhaps I was wrong there.
4 inches of rain and will keep coming down so it will not be today that I can get photos of my options.
Maybe a bit of good news. No sticks have been placed back in the nest box after I removed them all. Is the nest box still at risk now since some bird (potentially a house wren) knows where it is?
It’s raining today so I won’t be able to take pictures of the locations in the yard until it clears up.
Is a box mounted not on a fence, but within a foot or 2 of it still a bad idea?
I have another location that has some light branch cover from nearby trees and I thought that would be bad in allowing a snake or something else to drop down onto the box.
I removed the twigs from the box. I haven’t seen a house wren around, but I know they can be sneaky and I’m still learning what birds are what, so I believe it. Do Carolina wrens attack bluebirds too? I know we have those around as well.
I’ll take pictures of the areas that are possibilities when I get back on Sunday. Thanks a lot for the help!
What can/should I do? Should I post pictures of the location and the other locations I have in my yard as potential spots? Should i open up the box and leave it open so whatever it is stops using it?
I have one other good spot that seems good, except it is next to a fence and I fear predators would jump from the fence and bypass my predator guard.
I saw a small, slender, brown bird fly into the box yesterday and poke its head out and look around for a bit. I was 75 feet away and couldn’t get a look at what it was. It flew out of the evergreens about 10 feet from the box and flew back in there when it was done. I’m concerned my box isn’t in a good location for bluebirds now. Any input? Here’s what’s inside the box now, so there’s definitely activity going on.
Thanks for the input. I’m concerned about distance to the shed, HOSP, and HOWR. But I won’t try to micromanage and will just see what happens. My neighbor has had a blue nest every year but this one and says they always raise the young. His is just on a wood pole with no guards and they don’t really monitor it, so who knows.
Fortunately, I saw my first blue in my yard in a couple months today. Happened to have a camera nearby and grabbed a few shots of him bathing. His behavior in the tree fluffing and drying and dancing was very interesting. Should I get a feeder up now that I know they are here? Will suet or mealworms be more attractive?
I wouldn’t have guessed that a predator could jump from the shed to the next box. Is that actually a risk?
I read on Sialis for a while and might try putting some mealworms in a cup on the feeder for a short time to see if it gets any interest. I’ll probably put some of the red holly berries in there from the yard as well.
Aside from some feeding I should probably just let it all be for a while and see what happens, unless I’m doing something clearly wrong. If that’s the case please point it out.
I’m not worried about getting any in the first cycle. I think anything this year would just be a bonus.
I guess you see what you look for, but I was eating with the next door neighbor and saw 2 of these birds in the picture and 2 others that seem to have the same body type but are all black, maybe with dark, dark brown on the head, throat, and chest. I assume the ones pictured are house sparrows. What are the black birds?
Now that I believe they are here in my yard, what is the best way to go about getting rid of them? What do people do to most easily catch and kill them?
Thanks for the input so far. I do like the feeder on the site here, but I’ve only seen bluebirds a couple times and want to make sure I can get some around before I spring for a nice feeder like that. But if I can get them around regularly I would get a nice feeder.
I thought getting a cheaper feeder would help me attract blues to my yard with dried mealworms. Maybe that isn’t the case? If not, what can I do to attract them? Right now I have:
- Cedear bluebird box about to go up on a pole, with predator guard, facing SE in an open area with 2 trees within 50 feet
- Bird bath that I’m keeping filled more shallowly now to keep water level at 2″ or less
- Songbird feeder with good seed (not helpful for blues, I know)
I have plenty of robbins, cardinals, blue jays, finches, juncos, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, and doves coming and going. I didn’t know what house sparrows are but I will be on the lookout for them.
My neighbor has a small shed that’s about 15 feed from the location my nest box will go. I hope that isn’t a no go, as I think it’s the best place for the nest box in my yard.
I’m completely new to bluebirds and am excited to see what it’s all about. I welcome all suggestions. This seems like a great community.
