help!

15 years ago

my blues had their nest almost completed. she built with NOTHING but pine straw. yesterday, a house wren started going in and out of the nest box. i carefully removed the nest, laid it on the floor of the deck, did what i had to do. when i went to put the nest back, i saw that my dogs had investigated it and it was pretty well trashed.

i put it back as best i could and the blues are back today. my question is...will they accept my poor attempt at nest building or should i remove it completely and hope they will start over???

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Comments (6)

dzyg
15 years ago
I have no clue what you should do, just curious why you removed the nest in the first place. I understand the "what you had to do" part but couldn't you have done it without removing the nest? I really don't know what the Blues will do, maybe she can straighten it out but who knows, I have never removed a pre-egg Blues nest before.
Good luck!

btw....you "may" get a bit of grief from some over the "what you had to do part" but not from me.

Donna
lisa11310
15 years ago
Hi Ninapearl!!! I think she will put it back they way she wants it. They don't have keen smell so I don't think that she will smell the dog. And Donna is right be prepared to duck! LOL. Do you have a Wren guard ready?
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Ninapearl
Original Author
15 years ago
pfffft, whoever has a problem with my methods will have to find me first. ;)

momma blue accepted my lame attempt and has been rebuilding all day. so far, so good. yes, lisa, i do have a wren guard and i will use it along with the sparrow spooker as soon as the first egg is laid. i am hopeful that i will have at least one successful nesting this summer. i didn't have any last year and i SO missed fledgling antics!
ohsoblue77
15 years ago
I hope you do get to see fledglings this year Nina!

This is my 5th nesting season and the only one where I had no successful attempts by the blues was the 1st.

And guess who was the primary cause? HOWR! Which (thank god!) I don't have issues with anymore. Please, if you can, save yourself some trouble and keep that box in the open! Far from woods/brush/bushes, etc.
-Jason-
Ninapearl
Original Author
15 years ago
jason, i've been bluebirding for going on 15 years now and it's only been the last 2 or 3 years that house wrens have been a problem. it's hard for me to get away from woods/brush/bushes as i live in the middle of nowhere and i'm surrounded by all of that. i do have several "dummy" boxes up around the place and that has seemed to help some.
dzyg
15 years ago
Nina, glad to hear she is fixing the nest. At least you won't have to worry about that HOWR! I do what I have to do all summer long here, I too have lots of woodsy brushy areas.

I am hoping for a better year than last year too however we have less Blues around than last year. With three pairs (with two nestings each) last year we only had 14 fledge and we lost 3 of those that I know of. This year so far we have one and only one female Bluebird around right now. She is building a nest so I am assuming she is hiding her male somewhere, who knows where. The neatest thing about her though is I beleive she is my female from last year! That has never happened before. I live in Central WI and Blues don't overwinter here so each year I have to train the Blues that nest in my yard to come to the mealworm feeder. This particular female is more sky blue colored than the normal female Bluebird which is why I recognized her, so I put the mealworm feeder up and in she went and is eating rehydrated dried mealworms as that is what I fed them all last fall before they left.

Hope you have a successful nesting season this year with your BLues!

Donna