This is the time of year they are checking out housing and it sounds like your blues are very interested. The female makes the final decision on a nesting site, so they're just doing their thing right now. Keep an eye on the box and check to see if there is any nesting material in the box. If you're lucky, you might catch Mama blue in the building process. It's so much fun to watch. Good luck!

BTW, great pic!

Donna

Donna,
Thanks for the reply.
I put out some nesting material (grass, pine straw) in a piece of bark at the base of the pole and haven't seen them use it yet.
I read somewhere that gathering material for them is helpful.
Do you have any insight on this?
-Jared

There are so many pine trees and dead grasses in the woods near my house that I don't need to provide nesting materials. They'll be fine, with or without your help, so don't worry if they ignore what you've offered.

Donna

Thought mice were chewing up the front door cocoa mat. With all the material the blues could have used for nest building, it was mostly cocoa mat material I found in the nest.

Oh, that is too funny! I do remember that last year I had some moss in a bag purchased from a garden center. Just for the heck of it, I placed some on a crepe myrtle branch and within days, it disappeared though I have no idea who the takers were!

Donna

What I do each year for the birds in general is brush my thick-coated Golden Retriever and put it in a suet box. Her fur is soooo soft and water repellent too! I hang the 'hair box' under a tree and it's fun to watch some of the smaller birds (like chickadees) pull the fur from the box and fly away.

I have a nest box video camera so I've gotten to see how it is used by some birds. I've had bluebirds use the fur over the pine needles in the nest cup instead of grass. Also a nest of chickadees used it on the top of the nest esp. in the nest cup. The cutest thing I saw was a titmouse who used to take the fur from the side of the nest (their nest fills a bluebird box but there is a nest cup which is usu. in one corner similar to chickadees) and when she left, she'd pull the fur like a blanket over the chick.

Linda...

Here is a link that might be useful: time to brush the dog