Any suggestions?

Nancy

Ken

Though the blues have nested in that box, obviously successfully, it is not a safe place for the box. Blues like open spaces with nearby shrubs and trees and the box should be placed on a metal pole with a predator baffle.

As soon as the babies fledge, I always remove the nest and clean out the box by hosing it out and scrubing the inside. I leave the door open for a day to allow it to dry. I am not an expert...it's just my 2nd year to have nesting blues, but this forum and Sialis are wonderful tools!

Ken is right about the mealworms...they love them! You can start by placing a dish where you see them perch. It won't hurt to place it close to a box, then once they find it, gradually begin to move it a little further away...they will follow those mealies! Too, you might want to consider purchasing a mealworm feeder. Mine is a round cage style with a blue dish in the middle and of course, a top. This will allow the smaller birds to enter but will keep out the larger birds. I ordered mine from the Bluebird Nut Cafe. Good luck!

Donna

Nancy

But they are, squirrels and raccoons can easily get into that nest and eat the eggs or babies. I would not be content leaving it as is even if it has been ok previously. You can listen or not to the advice given but I am sure you will regret not moving it to a proper baffled pole when something does get into the nest.

Donna

Donna

A cardinal just flew into the tree, and the daddy blue flew past him and to the fence to coax him away. It is fun to watch the two bb's take care of each other. They are certainly a happy little pair. It is humorous that they are happy with all the other birds that hang out in that tree (30 or so humming birds, a woodpecker, lots of finches) but not with one cardinal who did not act the least bit interested in them. I know cardinals can be agressive, so I guess that they are not happy for that reason.

Now another true story just this past weekend. My friend called me to ask me about where to get a good bluebird house as her mom had a pair of bluebirds nesting in a house and wanted to put up another one. My dh makes my houses but I had just seen a really nice one at the store so I told her about it. I also told her to make sure they mount it on a metal pole like conduit. She was like "Oh, why is that?" I asked where the one her mom had now as and she told me mounted on a tree. I explained to her how raccoons, squirrels or cats could all climb up and kill/eat the babies, eat the eggs and or adult female. So she said she would pass the info on to her mom. I asked her just this morning how her mom liked her birdhouse and she told me that a raccoon tore the current nestbox down and ate the babies. Her mom now knows NOT to mount a nestbox on a tree or post, only safe place is a slick metal pole with a predator baffle.

Please listen to the advice given and put up a safe nestbox for your Blues instead of endagering them where they are. Also like Lisa said, what size is the hole on the box, maybe it wasn't meant for a bluebird and is too small for them to get in which is why they didn't use it when you closed it. It needs to be 1 1/2 inches for them to enter.

Donna

I came to this sight to have fun conversation about blue birds, not to be bossed around. I appreciate the advice, but you are right. I am unwilling to drop everything, and run around buying a bunch of stuff that will ultimately disrupt a nest in progress. As I said before, I will watch and think, and maybe on the next round. Then again, maybe I won't. At this point, you have turned it into a power struggle. You obviously care about blue birds. There are ways of talking to people who are less invested (who think of it as a side hobby and not a major interest) that might keep us around to learn. This was not it. I am just having fun and watching birds. I am not interested in saving the bb world.

Take care with your BB's. I am off to find other sites and forums. Or maybe I will just watch my birds... and leave the internet out of it.

Sorry if you felt bossed around but most of us have learned the hard way how to do things the right way and we want to try to spare others the anguish of loosing the precious birds we care about.

Donna

I've been a birdwatcher for years and have had other nesters, but no blues. When we moved into a new home, part of my backyard was the perfect habitat for nesting blues....so I put up a box on a wooden pole in hopes of attracting them. Truth is, I didn't know a darn thing about bluebirds, had never heard of HOSPS, sparrow spookers, predator baffles, etc. Long before nesting season, I was thrilled to finally see some bbs checking out the nestbox! When I found this forum, among other things, I quickly learned the box should be mounted on a metal pole and made the change!

NO, I can't save the bb world, but what I can do is provide the safest possible environment when they choose to nest in my box. Unfortunately, sometimes even our best efforts are not enough and disaster strikes, but if we have a proper set up and do the right things, the blues have a much higher chance of survival.

Please know that those who responded to your post are just trying to help by offering really good advice. That being said, I, too hope your blues will be safe.

Donna

It is sad you chose not to heed advice and go elsewhere. Perhaps you will find more "agreeable" solutions to your issues. You may not have liked what you heard here, but it was valid and profitable-what I would have LOVED to hear just a few years ago.

Linda

One - My back yard could be described at best as an "open woodland" with numerous large canopy trees, plenty of evergreens, shrubbery, and tangled thickets, intermixed with some lawn, gardens, and a couple overgrown meadow/weedy areas. A very mixed habitat. While numerous Bluebirds visit daily during the winter to eat the home-made peanut butter suet, they usually disperse by Spring and I never in a million years expected any to nest here. On the plus side, the next door neighbor has a large lawn he mows and there is a meadow across the street, so they probably hunt there, but I often observe them perching and hunting in my yard too.

Two - Even though I rushed to put up a traditional Bluebird nestbox mounted on a pole w/baffle, the Bluebirds have chosen to nest in NATURAL CAVITIES in the dead pine snags in my back yard. They have had 2 broods and chose 2 different natural cavities for each brood, while ignoring the nest box. One cavity was about 20 feet up, one about 10 feet up. Guess they didn't read about safety rules, proper hole size, and predator guards. :)

I am very excited because their 2nd brood fledged about a week ago, they disappeared for awhile, and today Mr. and Mrs. Blue showed up to repeatedly retrieve some suet nuggets and fly off to the large Pin Oak in the front yard where I'm guessing the fledglings were hanging out! (Also heard some cries coming from the tree.)

Momma Blue peeking out from her first nesting cavity -

missriss...as far as your post..n.gwinn is not letting nature take its course since her blues are in a made made nestbox mounted improprely in her yard. Letting nature take its course would be taking the box down completely and letting them find nesting elsewhere. I really find it hard to believe that you or ngwinn think she was treated terribly here. All that was done was an attempt to educate.

Donna