Anita...I can't speak for others, and those who have several nesting pairs...I have one pair who have nested, and the babies fledged on 4/25...they did seem to court each other before nest building began...

Mama began the second nest on 5/8, and both Mom and Dad continue to feed the fledglings, so I haven't seen much courting this time around! Maybe they just fell for each other some time ago and made a one time commitment, so he thinks there's no need to "woo" her again...Who knows!!!!
Interesting to think about, though...

Donna

Bluebirds have many vocalizations. They sing, warble, "danger" call, even chirp for various reasons. During courtship they might both sing. I've heard the adults make baby sounds when they come for mealworms. I've heard the male sing very softly and quietly nearby for hours while the female is incubating eggs. I've heard a female call for her mate all day long at the top of the highest tree, after he went missing during a terrible hailstorm. As fledglings grow older, their calls change, and when fledging time is near, the parents call to them to encourage them as they tease them with food, and maybe even tell them where to fly to. It amazes me when I see a fledgling pop out on their very first flight, and make an immediate U-turn in mid-air up to the woods--how did they know to do that?
I recently purchased a little recorder, and hope to be able to share some of these sounds someday, maybe to go along with some of the stunning photos many of you post here. If only that UPS truck would quiet its brakes! That screeeeech is piercing my ears!
BlueBars

Thank you so much BlueBars for the wonderful sounds and visions that are now filling my head!!!!!!!! I sure hope you can share some of this with us. Oh No Right now a wren singing outside is ruining it. He sounds just like that UPS truck!

Anita I guess it depends on the couple to some degree. I don't know. I know I've seen them doing the wing waving and him feeding her the second time around before.
Cathy

I can't be sure what's going on ! but there is a male bluebird sitting on the OTHER nestbox beyond the one where the swallows have their nest. Maybe it's a second male? But there is also a sparrow trying to claim that box. I'm probably going to have to put the van ert in.

A

Question -- Am I reading a couple of these posts correctly? If there is another available box, does the female begin building a second nest BEFORE her fledglings leave the nest? I have another BB box. Do I need to put it up? My backyard is small and not enough room for TWO BB families, but perhaps I should have it ready soon?

I can only speak for myself but my experience has been that the same pair nests in the same box once I have removed the old nest. That's why I'm wondering if that is ANOTHER male trying to use the other box. When your babies fledge remove the old nest right away and the same pair should start building a new nest very soon. If you put up another box now it is likely to used by a different kind of bird, maybe swallows if you have them around. They are great birds.

Anita

In my backyard, usually when the babies fledge we don't see them for a week or two. Once the younsters become more independent, nestbuilding will begin again. The bluebird pair will try to "defend" any other nestboxes they think are in their territory. When I put an additional nestbox in our small yard, it is temporary, for trapping HOSP, and it has a 1.25 entrance hole which will not allow bluebirds to enter, but they still try to defend it.
I have heard other people say that their bluebirds begin building immediately after fledge, sometimes in another nestbox if available.
Bluebars

Two years ago we had our first bluebird couple build a nest, three babies fledged from it. We did have another nestbox probably about 100ft from the one the Blues nested in. I cleaned out the old nest right after fledging and was waiting to see the first babies up on the deck for mealworms, went and checked that other nestbox and low and behold there were two bluebird eggs in it! This was about 2 weeks at the most since the first babies fledged. I was suprised to see they chose the other nestbox over the one they had just used and suprised to see how quickly they laid more eggs. Last year we only had a second nesting here in our yard and down at the park near us we had a bluebird pair that had two nestings in the same box. In this case there wasn't another box within sight of the one they used though. This year at the park we have a pair in the single box and then another pair in a paired box. Will be interesting to see if the one in the paired box has a second nesting in the same box, however it looks like TRES may take the paired box now.

Donna