First clutch of bluebird eggs

[Jay Aubuchon]

A while back I posted some pictures of a bunch of bluebird and tree swallow nest boxes I had built for Musser Gap Greenway:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?227422-Bluebird-and-tree-swallow-nest-boxes&highlight=

We now have our first clutch of bluebird eggs.

312455

The male keeps watch while I check the nest box.

312456

[Lee Schierer]

We have a pair of Bluebirds starting a nest in one of my boxes behind the house. We've had Bluebirds nesting on our property for nearly 20 years. We used to get tree swallows too, but we haven't had any nest here for a few years.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Those sure are pretty little birds. They migrate through here, but I haven't seen any summer here.

[roger wiegand]

Cool!

I've been putting out nesting boxes for almost 20 years and finally fledged my first nest last year. We're a little behind you, I've got a pair just starting a nest. The cursed sparrows as well, of course.

I have had eggs in earlier years but always lost them. The difference seems to be a new predator guard I started using, like this:
312483

Tried many other varieties earlier that didn't work, but this one seems to have done the trick. They even kept the mice out over the winter.

[Jay Aubuchon]

Lee, we usually have a pair nest in our backyard too. Getting permission to install boxes in the Greenway let me expand considerably. I have seen two other bluebird pairs checking out boxes. There are also about a billion tree swallows out there. Okay, maybe only dozens. A couple of them were dive bombing me when I was checking one of the boxes, so I think they have claimed it.

Steve, yes, as pretty as they come—for my taste.

Roger, I built predator guards just like that for all 20 boxes in this trail. I was going to make conical guards, but these were much cheaper.