Thats awesome,I would love to host a pair,I love to hear there call.If I may ask,what size hole is in your box?Also I expect to see photos.

P.S. Keep your eyes out for the snake skin in the nest.They seem to always add one.

Matt
Baltimore MD

Hey Matt,

The hole is an oval approx 1 by 1 3/4 inches. We have other boxes about the same size and one larger but this is the one they chose. We're surprised they're building in there as we read on the Sialis site that their nests are quite large - probably too big for this box, but maybe they're taking what they can get.

We're glad to have them. It's unusual to see them in the area and we know conservation numbers are down. We just wonder what our Blues will think!!!

Wonderful!Please keep us posted.

Thanks
Matt

That is awesome!! Congratulations! As Matt said.....we expect pictures and keep us posted LOL. Oh, you better get another box up because the blues will be back for round 2 :)

Karen

I would like updates too. My mom lives in Fla. and had one pecking on her window for several days.

Matt - forgot to mention - no snake skin that I can see yet, just a whole lot of grass, a feather and small piece of thin plastic or paper. Of course, she's still building as I type so who knows what else we'll find in there.

tamsea... which bird is pecking at the window.... GCF or BB?

GCF bridget.

Wow! What a treat! She's a pretty bird.
Sometimes we hear them in our area, MMMWWWEEEEP!
Very cool.
BlueBars

Well.... still no snakeskin but we did see Mama dragging a super long piece of clear plastic in there yesterday- the pic below shows it woven in....

And -- today when we took a peek this is what we found...

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what animal this came from!?!?

Mama and Papa Blue came by today for the first time in a while. They checked all the boxes and looked quite perplexed when they checked their old favorite! We'll have to wait and see what happens I suppose!

My pair of BBs always stay pretty close. Every a time another bird even looks cross eyed at their nest box, Dad shows up real quick and runs them off. I assumed they all did the same thing.

Dean

Looks like a piece of squirrels tail to me.
Yesterday, my wife and I went around cleaning out the blue bird houses that were not occupied and found one old nest (maybe not a blue bird) made mostly from dog hair that was combed off from one of our dogs in the yard.

Shot

I bet it's deer fur; probably a patch from a carcass.

I am sooo very jealous! GCF WOW!!!! It is definitely deer hair. It looks like it's from the tail to me.
Cathy

Yeah - we were thinking deer too and it looks a lot like a tail. Who knows what'll show up next. It's getting so big I don't think we'll be able to squeeze a camera in there for pics. We might have to get a better mirror so we can see what's going on.

Just hope she actually lays some eggs having gone to all this trouble.

The plastic must be the substitute for the snakeskin.I am so jealous too,I wouldn't get nothing done if a pair was nesting in my box.LOL!How do they like the monitoring?

Matt
Baltimore MD

We're officially worried.

It seems something may have happened to one of our pair, we don't know which one as it's difficult to know the difference. There has been no nest building activity today, normally they're around most of the day and leave early-ish evening, which is when we monitor --- they're a little skittish compared to our BBs so we don't 'push it'.

Anyway - today hubby heard one calling briefly around noon then saw only one for about half an hour, mid afternoon - sitting, calling and calling.

As you may have read, yesterday our BBs came back. They seem to be happy checking out a second box and we've not seen them in the area at the same time as the GCFs. The BBs tend to come early morning and early evening, so it's not like they're around all day.

Not sure how the GCFs normally 'act' when nesting etc. as this is the most we've ever seen of them, so I also posted on the bird watching forum to see if anyone from there or here, can offer some suggestions. Our gut feelings aren't good on this one. Hope we're wrong....

Bridget.

OH MY Bridget I sure hope you are wrong. I don't have any knowledge of GCFC nesting habits so I can only pray and cross my fingers for your birds. Let's hope we will all be able to learn from your birds.
Cathy

I don't have any experience with Great Crested Flycatchers, either -- and am VERY JEALOUS! They may just be taking a break before egg laying, but should be nearby. Anytime I have birds disappear during the building stages, I always suspect a wasp - so take a good look inside up at the ceiling and make sure that's not what is keeping the flycatchers out. I have removed several wasps in the last few days from nestboxes on my trail. Your bluebirds will probably be looking for a nesting spot now, too. They can be very persistent and I would really hate to see them run off the flycatchers. I think I would have a box for them that looks as much like this one in every detail possible, pointed in the same direction, etc and hope that they leave the GCFC alone to nest in peace. It will be very interesting to hear how this goes - I hope someone with experience between these two species will chime in soon with some help to give the flycatchers a better chance. Malinda

Thanks Malinda and Cathy! We hope they're just taking a break too...
There are no wasps in there. We took a good look at the nest yesterday evening. (On a side note, we did find snake skin in there towards the back!) We have several boxes but none close by or exactly facing the same direction. From what I read the GCFCs are pretty territorial so I am surprised they're not here trying to chase off the BBs... I don't know....
Still no sign this morning.
Sigh.

Without speaking too soon we hope, it seems our GCFCs might be back. We saw one in the tree, heard it call. Then it took off and was flying at or with another similar looking bird, hard to tell from a distance, squawking etc. Not sure if it was an 'intruder' or its mate... don't know what their mating ritual is like!!!
Shortly after, heard more calls then Mama appeared with a mouthful of moss and popped it in the nest box.... YEA!

Still hearing the occasional call but not seeing them as much. Blues keep checking out all the boxes and brought 2 of the 4 babies back for mealies today.

We're trying to figure out what to do with our boxes to encourage the BBs to nest in another and to allow the GCFCs to 'carry on' -- considering Malinda's suggestions!

Fingers crossed ....

I had hoped that by now we would have heard from someone with experience hosting these two species in the same yard. I really don't know anything about how well they would get along as the nesting progressed, which species is more aggressive, or how far apart boxes for them should be. If you have room for a box or two, that look like this one, I think I would try at least one out of sight of the flycatchers. Bluebirds sometimes don't like ANY other bird being in a nest box near them - at least until they get busy with young. Your flycatchers already have a nest, so giving the bluebirds first choice is not going to be an option for you. Anyone have suggestions??

Not sure if the link below will hold any valuable info or not. Maybe worth a try - here is the link to the Best Of BluebirdListerve conversations about GCFC in nestboxes:

Here is a link that might be useful: GCFC info

Thanks Malinda.... it was interesting to read that someone else found them to be so 'sneaky' that they too thought they had disappeared or abandoned the nest. Guess we saw them around so much at the beginning we got too used to it. We've heard the calls a few times again today but not seeing them at the nest -- maybe they're just being very covert!

We'll see how it goes. Blues seem ok right now. Our boxes aren't close to each other, each on different sides of the house, so hopefully the Blues will choose another. They know this is a good place for mealies and they're on to a good thing.... so we'll keep trying.

It seems the GCFCs are building a second nest in another yard. Our family of Blues were here this morning so we sat outside with our glasses watching the activity. Sure enough we heard the GCFCs calling in a tree a couple of yards down. Hubby spotted Mama on a satellite dish with a pine needle in her mouth. She hopped inside the cover of the antenna, and popped out a short while later minus the needle. We saw both Mama and Papa hanging out by the dish and popping in and out quite frequently with nesting material.

We're so glad they're ok but ultra disappointed that they have chosen a new place to nest.
At least we know where they are and can watch from a distance.

Some of you may have read in my other post (Nesting Confusion) that our GCFCs did indeed finish their nest and have laid at least 3 eggs, (may be more but we've been ultra cautious about peeking... with Mama being so nervous and then some bad weather).
Anyway - she is incubating right now and ...this is for Tamsea mainly... she has been banging at our window! She's not doing it regularly but just like Mama Blue did last year she attacks the dining room window. Hubby thinks he has even heard her doing it after dark - in the wee small hours, which is odd.... but who knows what goes on in those tiny heads! Just wondered if your Mom had any luck with them nesting too Tamsea??

Bridget,
My Mom didn't put up a nestbox. Next time I'm down there maybe I'll put one up for her. She was really into feeding birds in TX but now that they are in FL she doesn't see many. She said that people have said since the last hurricane came through their area the bird population is down. I don't know if that is true or not.
Is your box regular bluebird box height? I do want to put one up for her next year.
Tammy

Tamsea,

Yes, hubby made the box to regular BB box specs... it's 9 1/4 at the front, 10 1/4 at the back - hole is 8 inches up.

We had heard their nests avg about 10 -12 inches high so had been convinced they'd find it too small but they have made do. The nest is very high and it's hard to see into so we have to rely on the mirror.

Took a peek yesterday and could barely see the eggs for all the feathers and for them being so far down in the nest, but she's incubating so hopefully all is well.

We've actually seen an increase in the numbers/types of birds coming to our yard. We thought perhaps we were just paying more attn but we're getting birds we never had, including a red shouldered hawk who likes to hang out on the fence - which is extremely worrying ....
I think partly all the construction and destruction of woodlands around us is forcing some of them to find new hunting/feeding/nesting grounds....

I think if your Mom puts up a box and feeders she'll soon have company!!