You do need to face them away from prevailing winds and away from afternoon sun. As you learned on the sialis website, they need to be on a slick pole with a predator guard. Go back to the sialis website and read a lot more. You'll learn *so* much about hosting bluebirds. There's information on how to protect them from house sparrows and wren attacks as well as just the basics. You're asking good questions, so you'll be a quick learner. :o) Here is a link that might be useful: Sialis

Ponder no more! TRES...tree swallows, HOWR...house wren...CAWR...Carolina Wren..just to name a few. I live in the deep south, so they are year around residents, I have no idea about other parts of the country. Nestboxes should always be cleaned after babies fledge..in fact, I clean mine the very next day by hosing it out, scrubing the inside, then rinsing well. I leave the door open for a day to dry thoroughly. Some birds, including the blues will sometimes roost in boxes during the winter when temps are very cold. Check out Sialis.org for anything you want to know about the blues! It's a must read for anyone wanting to host them! Donna

Did a count later today and there are 4 babies. Mom did not eat the meal worms I put out today. Weather has gone to not being so hot and so I guess she is happy with the bugs that she can get on her own. She and Dad were busy at the nest site and I saw several other blues in the area (not sure if they are their young but they seems to tolerate them being around, so I am guessing that they are.)

kendra2 i was surprised to see that you are in MA and in zone 5 and have year round BB's. I am in SW Vermont in zone 4 (or 4B depending on where you look) and have been seeing BB's later and later each year and wondering what is going on as i thought they went south for winter. It is hard to tell from the posts what is happening because not everyone identifies where they are located and what zone they are in but it appears they will overwinter wherever they can. It seems unimaginable that BB's would overwinter in my region because it can go to -20 here at night and be in single digits for days at a time. Typically there is a stretch of 2 or more weeks in winter that don't exceed the teens. These temps are mitigated only slightly till one travels at least 75 air miles to Albany and the lower Hudson valley. Nevertheless, I have seen BB's later and later in the year on nice days until I eventually stopped seeing them in late November. This year I saw groups of BB's around the nest boxes on nice days several times in November and December. On Christmas eve I saw a pair perched near the house going into the snow to pick up something. This weekend is supposed to be in the high 40's and i kind of expect to see them again. So my question is: are they overwintering here or making "day trips" to their nesting grounds and why on earth would they be doing that in such a difficult environment when they could be in Carolina eating fresh fruit and bugs? Lou