Bluebird building the nest.

After a day of fierce fighting for new home between the Eastern Bluebirds and the Tree Swallows, they both finally settled on a place to raise their kids.  The Swallows took the same old house that they have been nesting in for the last couple of summers.  The Bluebirds settled on the house by the vegetable garden.  To my relief, of course.  They are less vicious than the Swallows when it comes to defending their nest from humans.  The most they would do is fly up to the tree and scream their lungs out at intruders.  The swallows, on the other hand, would dive bomb my head incessantly until I left the garden and them alone.  While trimming the rose bushes on the stepladder today, the swallows were chasing each other back and forth and fighting among themselves for real estate, coming so close that a couple of times they nearly knocked me off the stepladder.

For Eastern Bluebirds, the female builds the nest while the male keeps his eyes on intruders.  She has been busy taking building materials in to the box.  Countless trips.  Once in a while she stops to preen a bit.

The Swallows are still fighting among themselves.  I guess the kids want to nest in the house that they grew up in, but the parents chase them out.

Our job now is to make sure that the House Sparrows won’t ruin it for them.