Looking For the Perfect Place

It’s that time of year again…a time to look for a perfect place to raise a new generation.  The birds that usually hang out together during winter start chasing one another, claiming their territory.  A few of them checking out the nest boxes we put up in the garden.  I cleaned them in mid-fall and put them back up for the birds to roost in winter, and I check them again around this time of year to see if any of them need to be cleaned again.  Some birds do make a mess in there when they use them as a roosting place.

The Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis), which never left us this winter, have been coming everyday to check the nest boxes.  They seem to be very serious about two of the boxes.  One box had a pair of Bluebirds nested in it last year, and a pair of Tree Swallows have nested in the other one.  I hope they make up their mind soon, especially if they want to take the one that the Tree Swallows used to nest in.

Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) are known to come back to the specific nesting place they used in the previous year.  We had two generations, three pairs of them nested in our garden last year.  And, yes, the older pair came back to the exact nest box they had used the year before.  They are pretty vicious in defending their nest so I hope the Bluebirds will build their nest before the Swallows come back.

We love both of them so we can’t really take sides.  With House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) and European Starrings (Sturnus vulgaris), we pretty much chase them away or clean them out if they have nested in one of the boxes.  I know it sounds mean spirited but they are pests and they kill other birds or break their eggs to get their nesting place.  They’re not indigenous to this area.

I would also like to increase our state bird population.  The Bluebird is the official New York state bird.  I acquired this knowledge a few years ago when I looked up Bluebird so I’m glad that we’ve hosted our state bird three years in a row…..and hope to continue the trend this year.