BB couple building nests in 3 different boxes

17 years ago

Hello all,

I am in Ontario, Canada (very close to Ogdensburg, NY) and have been b-birding since 2002. I have had 6 out of these 8 years have active nestings with 38 babies successfully fledged. In 2005, I experienced the joy (shock!) of 6 BB eggs in one nest (who all later successfully fledged) as well as having a 3rd nesting that same season which are both fairly rare occurrences this far north, but I have never, ever seen such crazy behaviour as this spring.

Has anyone ever experienced a bb couple defending AND building nests in 3 separate boxes at the SAME TIME?? Two of the boxes are within 50 feet of each other on one side of the house and the third box is out sight at our human ground level (but not from bird's eye view) on the other side of the house.

Mrs. B started building in one box and has now started 2 more in 2 different boxes. Not just single strands of grass but full blown mouthful after mouthful of grass into each of the 3 boxes! I can just barely see the bottom of the nest box floor in the 3 boxes with the 3rd box having the best nest-like formation. She works on one nest in the early morning (7-8 am), takes a break, than switches to the one at the side of the house for a while (9-10) then starts in on the 3rd box for about an hour or so (11-12)

What is going on!?! Are they getting revved up for another banner year of nesting? I don't know if I can afford mealies for another 3 nesting season!! :)

Thanks,

Karen

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Comments (5)

organicgardener
17 years ago
My stars! Are you soaking those mealworms in high test coffee? I have never heard of this behavior. Sounds like she is trying to dominate the habitat. Surely she will settle on one nest since she cannot possibly incubate eggs in more than one. Keep us posted.

Linda C.
nick7nc
17 years ago
Same thing happens to me every year !!!

They build 3 boxes and then they nest in only one next time they go to the next one if it's in good condition and they keep checking on the boxes all the time.

Just a week ago one of the boxes got insects and they stopped checking. Then I checked and had to spray it but they already got eggs in one of the other.
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bluebars
17 years ago
Geesh, I'm out of breath just thinking about it!
Too funny! Hormones? Greed? The coffee Linda mentioned? What the heck's in the water?
Do other birds ever use the other boxes, like chickadees or nuthatches or anything? If not, when she settles down to one box and begins egg-laying, you might want to take the stress off her and remove the other two half-built boxes. Poor girl.
Imagine having to keep up 3 human homes without a housekeeper and maintenance crew! And the male is probably doing triple-duty security detail to maintain their claim on their "territory."
BlueBars
fledged38
Original Author
17 years ago
LOL! I do feed a lot of mealies!! I got home from work tonight and the mystery I think has been solved. There is definitely a completed nest in the third box which of course is the least weather worthy in that it is only 1/2" wood and not my home made true 1" wood construction. But I guess I shouldn't worry as many, many TRES have fledged from that box sucessfully.

It looks like the other 2 nests are at the same stage as yesterday so she must have finally decided the slightly smaller box was easier to fill up and kept going with it.

Now we'll see how many eggs she deems it worthy of having!

Karen
karen_va
17 years ago
I have the same situation, except with two nests in boxes that are about 25 feet apart. This is the first year I have seen this behavior. They started building in one box, but after only one day a HOSP pair decided to take over the box, so the bluebirds moved to the other box. Then an even stranger thing happened. After two days, (and NO nest building) the HOSP pair just decided to leave! I have never seen this happen before, and I don't know why they moved on. (Maybe they could read my mind that a trap was in their future??) But I think this is the reason the bluebirds are building in both boxes - to try to control the territory. It will be interesting to see which box they choose.

BB couple building nests in 3 different boxes

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organicgardener

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BB couple building nests in 3 different boxes

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organicgardener

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karen_va

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