Bluebird Nest Box Preparation Time
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- February is the month to prepare your bluebird nest box for upcoming nesting season. Making repairs, reposition the box, and adding nest lifts are all good ideas to improve you next box.
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Mark McKellar is a wildlife biologist with over 35 years of bird study experience. He has a degree in Fish and Wildlife Sciences from North Carolina State University and has worked for the Department of the Army, the Wildlife Departments of North Carolina and Missouri. He ran nature centers for many years in Missouri and Pennsylvania before buying the Backyard Bird Center in the Northland area of Kansas City. Mark has led hundreds of bird hikes both locally and abroad. He has taught classes about birds and other wildlife to groups of all ages and brings that knowledge to the customers of his retail business every day. More information about Mark at backyardbirdce...
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Cover photo of a male Eastern Bluebird by Robin Voorhees
Other Tags : blue birds,songbirds, nesting,eggs,nesting houses,bird house,diy,trai,bird watching,osu,oklahoma state university,stillwater,okg,oklahoma gardening
Wow I have a pair of bluebird that are nesting in my purple martin house in the back yard. There was another pair of bluebirds fighting for it. They are on there second brood now. The other pair finally move into one of my bluebird houses in the front yard the problem is I have mockingbirds nesting in the front yard. Well all was good until the mockingbird babies fledged last week. There nest was about 50 feet away. The bluebird babies are about 10 days old and there are 4 healthy babies. The problems comes the mockingbirds moved there new nest into a bush 5 feet way from the bluebird nest. Every time the mockingbirds fly to there nest they buzz and land on top of the bluebird house. Making the bluebirds fly a little ways away. Then the mockingbird will fly onto the bush next to the house. The bluebirds will come back to the nest box and they will eyeball each other for about 15 minutes unto the mockingbird goes into the bush to it's nest. The mockingbird nest is so deep in the bush I can't see it. I don't know if there is any eggs in it. This show goes on everytime the mockingbird returns to the nest. The mockingbirds don't seem interested in destroying bluebird nest so I guess all is good. Maybe they just like to make sure the bluebird's know whose the boss.
Thank you for sharing that. It does illustrate how birds do have to share resources.
Thank you for the information, Mark. I installed a Bluebird house (5-6' height) today in northwest louisiana. Hope to attract a family this year 🤞
Your welcome and good luck!
Great content as always, Mark! I've never used nest lifts, but that's a great idea. Thanks!
Thank you!
I'm in Atlanta, GA and this year I have had tons of blue birds at my feeder. I had never actually seen one before so I am thrilled! Just ordered a bluebird house and hope to get it up in the next few days. I was wondering if the carpet strips would deter squirrels from climbing my feeder pole or would that be cruel? I have been using a mixture of hot feed with the millet and sunflower seeds and that really seems to work. Trying to step up my game this year with more feeders. I noticed on one of your video shorts that you have a lot of open feeders and there are tons of trees around them. How do you keep the squirrels away? One thing I've been doing is to put peanuts and other treats on the ground and that seems to keep them busy. So glad to have found your channel!!
Carpet tack strips can work on feeder poles but they have to be long enough that the squirrels cannot jump above them. Squirrels are smart enough to know when the touch the tacks to not go further. I use the “stovepipe” like raccoon baffles on my poles and make sure the poles are at least ten feet from any jumping platform like a tree limb or deck. Thayer work against both squirrels and raccoons.
Will the bluebirds nest if I put the box on a tree ? I don’t have a post to put in the middle of my yard unfortunately
The bluebirds will use a box mounted on a tree but they are likely to face more competition for the box.
Great tips.
Thanks for tuning in!
Peace!
I have what I suspect a new blue mom building a nest in my box. The nest is very messy and doesn’t have a well defined cup in the middle. She laid the eggs to the side in a not-so-defined cup against the wall.
Will this be okay? I’m nervous for her and want her to have a successful brood.
She is likely a young bird and doesn’t have act down yet. She very well may be fine.
Snake scales are are teeming with keratin, like your fingernails or hair. They don't care about carpet tacks and will use the tacks like a ladder. Moving a box 10 feet will have no effect on a snake's ability to locate birds since they watch for aerial prey from a distance. They are not confused easily at all when it comes to the hunt. If there is a snake in your habitat, and they live everywhere from parks to back yards, you will lose every time if you try the two methods you suggest. One proven way to stop a rat snake, every time, without harming it, is to not give it anything to constrict, and that means using a smooth device of sufficient length and sufficient circumference to stop it's ascent: a 5-foot long, 8-in. diameter HVAC cylinder.
Thanks for your input. I agree that the PVC pipe may be a better option for snakes but over my 35 years of doing this, I have had several reports from bluebird landlords of success by relocating and the carpet tack strip methods. As I always try to say in my videos "you never say never and never say always when talking about wild animals".
@@MarksBackyardBirds @Mark's Backyard Birds First, thank you for owning a bird store. It's important work. I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on this. I've used carpet tack, nails, different grades of barbed wire , combined the different grades, and even had the leading manufacturer of barbed wire make me a special double barbed role. I've pulled barbs out, down, up, and all three at once. Relocating 10 feet won't do anything. All my methods have been checked with a vaseline/ lithium combination to check for successful vs. unsuccessful snake tracks. The only method that has worked 100% of the time (and now on 250 setups) is a 5 foot cylinder, not a 2-foot cylinder which failed 34 times in 2018. It's the only method that works because it allows no kind of snake locomotion to take hold. One cannot say that a method works unless one uses an indicator, a video camera, or watches 24 hours a day and this is done on a large number of setups. Also, one cannot say that a method works if a snake sees you watching it. It must not be disturbed. The number of years one has done this does not really matter. A lot of people still think 2-foot guards work 30 years after it was "introduced." But, they never truly tested it or they would have seen it fail as many have. It's all dependent on proper research.
@@MarciaVanHorn I admire the research you have done.
Marcia, you are right! Found a little rat snake in my thorny rose bush. So prickly stuff won't deter them one bit. The prickles on a noel guard won't do anything for snakes.
I have two boxes and they both checked them out two weeks ago but haven’t built anything yet. But they are eating out of the worm feeder but nothing built in the box.
It is still early in most of their range. Good sign that they are still around and using the feeder.
@@MarksBackyardBirds thank you, after it rains is it best to keep the dried/live meal worms protected and covered? Or it does not matter? I looked outside after it rained the live meal worms were dead and the dried were soggy but the Carolina wren came and ate it but no sign of bluebird
@@aznstylepn0y It will not hurt the birds if they eat them but I try to dump them at the end of the day of the rain and refresh them. The live ones are more valuable and attractive to bluebirds. Their movement is a major trigger for the bluebirds while the wrens are great at finding insects that are hiding in wood crevasses.
We've had bluebirds in and out of our camera nestbox for a week. Anyone know how long it takes for them to start building a nest? You can check see them if you like, they're beautiful.
It depends on where you are. It varies with temperature, insect availability
@@MarksBackyardBirds Im in North Myrtle Beach, SC. Funny thing about insects, the female was in the birdhouse and then the male stuck his head in the hole with a spider in his mouth. He leaned down as if he was going to give it to her and then he ate it himself. lol I couldnt belive he did that. She actually tilted her head back in forth. It was funny.
That is funny. We have a place at Crescent Beach. Grew up about 90 miles inland from there. I would think bluebirds could start nesting anytime now there.
I’m in Louisiana I have a bluebird house and about 30 feet away my backyard is pretty small I have a little chickadee bird house .. is it OK to have both in my yard at the same time will they bother each other? Thanks
Those two should be fine.
I am new to bird watching or trying to attract them but have always loved the bluebirds. Beautiful around the horsebarn and pasture. Have just put up my first Bluebird box. Its hilarious watching me watching them. Like a sporting event when they lite on the house. Thanks for all your info.
@@samuelevans3801 Welcome to the greatest hobby in the world!
We have managed both at the same time. The key is to use a 1 1/8 inch hole reducer in the chickadee box to prevent eviction and harassment from other bigger birds.