Bluebirds Shopping for Home

February 10 Final Check Prior To Nesting

Note: please do not open boxes even to show the children the old nests (there are none). Boxes can be opened in the fall again.

I see I set up the blog with Blue Bird as two words. It's bluebird. No matter.

The nest boxes were checked out today. All seemed in working order, even though not all the poles are quite steady. They are supposed to have a 2 foot rebar (concrete reinforcement metal) bar inside, to keep the pole (hollow) in place. Some are just the hollow poles stuck some 6-8 inches into the ground.

Boxes on the North side had some house sparrow activity. These birds had stuffed nesting material in three of the boxes. There is nothing much we can do. The North side boxes need some metal rods, shown here on a bar that had bent from years in the wind, hammered back in. It is sort of straight now.

In the South end, some of the most remote boxes had a pair of Bluebirds examining the boxes near the trail. There is not much foot traffic here. I checked both boxes as it was not yet time, and there were no nesting materials inside yet, The nest will be built in the next few weeks and eggs may appear in April, my guess. I do not have Nebraska data on these yet. CLICK the picture to get a bigger view.

The competing tree swallows (blue and white birds) are not here yet. But they did take at least half the boxes in the past. We will see.

Esa Jarvi, Lincoln