Hi, I too am in NW Georgia. Until yesterday I thought I would not be having a bluebird nest in the nestbox I have had up for years that has a video camera in it. Yesterday, a titmouse started to bring in materials but I was SHOCKED & VERY HAPPY to see the bluebirds going in and out of the box taking OUT the material. Just a minute ago, the titmouse came into the box and looked around and left. It came back again but so did the blues who took out more of the material. Last year Mama Blue took 13 days in March to build the nest and then she laid the first egg on April 1st. If that is going to be a repeat (that's a long time to make the nest), we are way behind schedule but it has been a much colder spring than usual. When it's egg laying time, Mama lays the egg in the morning and usually does not go into the box again that day. She will not sit on the nest for long periods of time (incubation) until all the eggs have been laid. Daddy may go in and check things but if it's egg laying time there, you won't see a lot of activity. Bluebird blessings Linda... NW Georgia (Acworth)

Thank you for all the information. Do sparrows do anything similar? I thought I saw a sparrow coming out of the box day before yesterday, but then figured I had to be mistaken because since then the bluebirds have steadily been in and out, and I've seen no sign of the sparrow. I measured the hole and it is 1 5/8 inches. I will look for the inserts to fix that-- is it all right to do while the bluebirds are nesting?

Well If you have ever seen TRES fledge theres no way a baby Blue will make it. I would almost opt to candle the eggs and if there is little to nothing there get rid of them. Is it possable to tell the difference between babies at hatching time? I would want to put them in the Blues nest but that could cause problems too. Lets think babies not eggs here. No way a blue can survive with a TRES Mom, overloading a Blue or having babies hatch days before her clutch could result in dead babies. Yikes this is one for Bet, Malinda or Cornell. Im still thinkin destroy the eggs so no babies ever suffer.

Hi! A couple weeks ago we noticed 2 Carolina wrens building their nest in our fern right outside of our kitchen window. We were so excited! Then a few days ago we no longer saw them around and sadly thought that they had abandoned their nest. This morning we were talking about removing the nest from the fern and when I peeked, I saw 5 eggs! Now we are concerned if they have abandoned their eggs :( Is this possible? We haven't seen them around at all. What time of the day do they incubate? Would it be possible that we are missing their timing? We are not morning risers. Agh! I'd be so sad if by any chance we scared them away :( We have been very respectful, however sometimes we would open the window. I do not know how long the eggs have been there. I thought that as soon as they were close to being done building their nest, they had left. Do they first build and then lay their eggs? Thank you so much!