Different Bluebird Box Designs. How To Mount Bluebird Boxes. Monitoring Your Nest Boxes. Roosting Boxes For Bluebirds. All bluebirds are classified as "cavity nesting birds". This means that their natural choice in nesting in the wild is some sort of hollowed out cavity in a tree. Before people put out nest boxes, natural cavities are what bluebirds nested in exclusively. Even now, some bluebirds will nest in these cavities, IF they can find them.
And this is a big problem today, as available natural tree cavities are scarce. Why is this the case? There are several reasons:. Extreme development has removed many trees which develop cavities. Landscaping methods today tend to favor removal of dead or dying trees rather than leaving them as a home for wildlife. In nature, these types of trees are not removed, but left to gradually decay. And the process of this decay, taking place over years, provides food, shelter, and nesting sites for many animals including bluebirds.
Aggressive, competing species like house sparrows and starlings have taken over the few natural cavities that are available. Bluebirds cannot create their own nesting cavities. They have to rely on either natural decay to create the space inside the tree or woodpeckers to excavate the cavity for them.
Either way, the bluebird has to search extensively to find a suitable cavity in the right habitat. This is where bluebird nest boxes solve the problem. The nest box looks a lot like a natural nesting cavity to a bluebird.
If it is designed to the proper dimensions and placed in a good location, bluebirds will respond readily. Please read below for more information. Bluebird nest boxes are relatively easy and inexpensive to construct. If you have some recycled lumber that's in good shape, your cost will be a dollar or two for the material. This is large enough to let in eastern bluebirds, but too small to let in larger birds like starlings.
The roof should overlap the walls of the box to provide shelter from the rain. Usually, the roof should be at least 10" long and wider than the box around 8 to 9 inches. There are some good design diagrams for download on our Nesting Box Plans page.
Materials - Most bluebird boxes are made of wood. The best types of wood to use are insect and rot-resistant species like red cedar, white cedar, and cypress. You can also use white pine, but it does not typically last as long as the first three. Another excellent material is recycled plastic, since it is rot-proof and impervious to damage from the sun.
But, it is hard to find in regular home centers and lumber yards. PVC large diameter pipe can be used too as a body for the box. This helps reduce warping somewhat and gives the box better insulation qualities for cold spring nights. You should use wood screws to assemble the box instead of nails. The reason is that the screws hold the wood together much tighter as the wood dries and warps over time. Also, all hardware should be made of bronze alloy, stainless steel, coated, or galvanized steel to eliminate rusting.
You can do this in several ways. Ventilation is very important to help cool the box on hot spring or summer days. In addition to the entrance hole letting in air, you need to introduce some cross-ventilation by either leaving gaps between the roof and the tops of the two sides, or drilling 1 or 2 good-sized holes on each of the two sides about an inch or so from the roof.
Opening For Cleaning - It's critically important when designing and building any bluebird box to include a way to open the box up to a do regular nest checks, and b to be able to clean out the nest box after the fledglings leave.
Most designs have either a side panel, the box front, or the roof hinging up to get inside the box. You can a nail to hold the "door" shut most of the time. No Perches - bluebird boxes do NOT need perches on the exterior of the box. Since bluebirds are cavity nesting birds, their feet are adapted to clinging to wood. Also, the presence of a perch may attract house sparrows which seem to prefer them. Habitat is the single most important factor which will determine whether you attract bluebirds to nest in your box.
You MUST locate the nest box in a location attractive to bluebirds. Good types of areas include golf courses, open subdivisions, farm fields, pastures, orchards, metroparks, open cemeteries, school yards, and church yards. No one knows absolutely for sure why bluebirds choose one box over another.
But, here are the location factors which statistically get the best results for "bluebird landlords":. Locate in an open, grassy field edge or lawn area away from trees. Place the box about 5 feet off the ground on a wooden or metal pole. Place away from dense cover shrubs, thickets and woods.
Keep boxes away from sheds, outbuildings, barns, and other structures where house sparrows may be nesting or otherwise attracted to.
Perch areas near to the nest box are a big plus. These can be telephone poles, tomato stakes, small trees, etc. Place the boxes away from bird feeders and your main house - at least 50 feet or more. Spacing of Nest Boxes - if you have enough room for more than bluebird box, you need to put them about to feet apart. This is because bluebirds, like more nesting birds are territorial and will chase away other competing members of their own species.
However, you CAN locate them closer together if the boxes are out of sight of each other. A good example is putting two boxes on opposite sides of the property with your house in between. This doesn't mean that you have to have this much property in YOUR yard. Good types of bluebird habitats include farmland, golf courses, orchards, metro parks and state parks, large office parks, suburban neighborhoods with large yards acres , and ranches.
There is a large number of successful designs of bluebird boxes. Keep in mind there IS no one best box style. All of these designs have the basic dimensions that bluebirds need to raise a brood of 3 to 8 young. The most important attribute is the location of the box and surrounding habitat. Peterson Box - this highly successful design was developed in Minnesota by Dick Peterson, and feat ures a large, angled roof, angled sides, a small sloping floor, and a vertical, oblong hole instead of the traditional round one.
The advantages of this design are a the slanted floor keeps the nest drier, b the large, angled roof makes it harder for predators to reach the nest, c ease of nest checks via the front panel which swings down.
The disadvantages of this box are a it's a complicated design to build requiring better than average tools and woodworking skills, b the box is heavier than most other designs and trickier to mount, c the box is NOT completely starling proof, as they are sometimes able to squeeze into the oval opening.
But, starlings don't prefer it as a nesting site and will usually go elsewhere. It has a slightly angled roof and opens from the side via the panel which hinges up. It uses a cedar floor, and a cedar roof which the box body fits into.
This box is one of the most sparrow resistant designs on the market. The shallow depth is not liked by many house sparrows.
Also, the PVC body is somewhat harder for them to grasp. Although the box has proven to be at the top of this sparrow-resistant list, field experience in recent years has shown that sparrows may still use the box. So, it is not foolproof. Gilwood Nest Box - This nest box is another design of Steve Gilbertson, and incorporates an unusual entrance hole design that has been found to be not liked by sparrows. It is another of the "less is more" type of nest boxes in that the relatively small inner nesting space is being found to be more successful than larger cavities.
It's not as easy of a design to make for woodworkers of average or beginning skills. But, it can be built for a modest cost. Bluebirders in several states, most notably Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan have reported significant losses of baby birds due to these gnats. The gnats breed in rivers and streams, but can travel miles from these areas as adults. They live for about 3 weeks, but can be a problem for much of the later spring and summer months. It's possible that certain environmental conditions can contribute to them being worse in certain years than others.
They are most active several hours after sunrise and several hours after sunset. Because it's often difficult to tell whether they're around nest boxes, prevention is the best option. The gnats are attracted to the carbon dioxide in the breath of warm-blooded animals as well as dark colors. So, prevention methods are mainly important after the young have hatched and before fledging.
Here are some steps that can greatly reduce or prevent loss of young birds to Buffalo Gnats:. Ants - ants will sometimes infest bluebird boxes. In this part of the country, they don't usually result in deaths of the young birds, but it is still possible. The risk is usually the highest after the young hatch. You can eliminate this problem by either coating the bottom of the pole with Tanglefoot or Vaseline, or a safe insecticide like pyrethrin.
You need to reapply these treatments after awhile though, as they will wear off after a time. Mites - feather mites are not usually fatal to the birds, but can be an irritant to them. Usually, there isn't much you can do until the birds leave the nest. Rinse it out thoroughly and let it dry before remounting the nest box. Don't worry about getting them on your hands, as feather mites are completely harmless to people.
Wasps - certain species of wasps like to attach their paper nests to the sheltered, horizontal surfaces of bluebird nest boxes. The underside of the roof is the most common spot. Wasps will force bluebirds to abandon the nest box, so it is wise to prevent them from building a nest.
You can always just remove the nests, but they may rebuild it later. The best preventative step is to coat the underside of the roof with Ivory bar soap.
This prevents the wasp's paper nest from sticking to the wood. Mice - mice can sometimes infest nest boxes left out in the winter. If mice have nested in a box, you need to remove the nest carefully. Deer mice and some other species are known to carry a disease called hantavirus. Hantavirus can be fatal to humans, so it is VERY important to take precautions when getting mice out of box.
Always wear rubber gloves and a breathing mask. Use a spray bottle and let the solution soak in for about 15 minutes before removal.
Boxes which get infested by mice are usually ones adjacent to fields or on fence posts. If the same boxes keep getting invaded by mice, open up the boxes all winter since the mice won't nest in an open box or just bring the box inside the garage for the winter.
House Wrens - MBS is including this section under Problem Solving so people who want to attract bluebirds are aware of the risks of having nesting House Wrens in the same vicinity. House Wrens are documented destroyers of eggs and even hatchlings of many other nesting bird species - including bluebirds. Bluebirders will often find eggs below the box that have been pierced and sometimes even young birds either missing or on the ground dead. And these are often boxes protected against climbing predators with baffles.
House wrens are a native cavity nesting bird that prefers brushy, dense-cover filled habitats. They are widespread throughout North America and are becoming more common in many areas.
They build nests in cavities like nesting boxes made almost completely of sticks. The cavity is typically filled to the top. The male will often build multiple "dummy" nests in a yard and allow the female to select one.
Active wren nests will have a feather or spider web lined area near the lower back part of the nest, and may include brown speckled eggs or more. The big problem is that House Wrens are usually not always not tolerant of other bird species nesting nearby. This is what is believed to cause them to destroy the eggs and young of other nearby birds - even ones that don't nest in tree cavities. Therefore, if you want to attract bluebirds to nest, it is advisable that you take some or all of the following steps to avoid the loss of eggs and young birds to wren attacks:.
Trapping, hunting, or the destruction of active nests is not permitted. Other Cavity Nesting Birds other than wrens - Please go to our page Other Cavity Nesting Birds for a description of each species you are likely to have nest in a bluebird box.
Below is a summary of the major types of predators that can attack nesting boxes to go after adults, young, or eggs. Hawks - Cooper's Hawks, and Sharp-Shinned hawks are two common predators of smaller birds.
Coopers are especially common in open country and wide open habitats. It's basically impossible to prevent this type of predation. It's natural and will occur on occasion. But, compared to the other types of predation, you shouldn't lose much sleep over it. Cats - feral or house cats that are left outside are a MAJOR threat to not only your bluebirds, but all nesting birds. Domesticated cats are NOT natural predators and do not belong in the natural habitat despite what their owners may believe.
It has been proven through research that outdoor cats kill millions of native birds every year. As far as bluebird boxes go, cats usually lurk nearby and leap up at the box when birds are leaving or entering. First, if you own a cat, keep him or her indoors at least during nesting season.
If your neighbors have cats that wander into your yard all the time, try speaking with them about keeping their cats inside. Otherwise, the best strategy is to place you bluebird nesting boxes as far out in the open as you can away from high grass, weeds, or other cover.
Cats don't like to be out in the middle of the yard in an unprotected area. They use stealth to approach their prey. So, making this very difficult will really help. Last, sometimes you can affix wide baffles to the pole to prevent cats from easily jumping up to the nest box. It would need to be at least 3 feet in diameter to do any good however.
They will also sometimes take over nesting boxes to live in. Flying squirrels are especially likely to do this. The main solutions are to A put your nest box out in the open away from woods and trees, and B put a climbing guard or baffle on the pole to prevent mammals from climbing them. Cylindrical metal baffles are best placed about 4 feet off the ground.
Any lower than this and squirrels can often jump above them. Snakes - there are several species of snakes in Michigan large enough to eat birds and their eggs. Rat or bull snakes are two of them. The good news is that they're not terribly common, so this type of predation is not your biggest worry. Snakes are a much larger problem in the southern U. Again, the best defense is a predator guard with a solid top so the snakes can climb the pole.
Also, snakes don't like to move across open stretches of lawn. So, this is another good reason to locate your nest boxes away from thick brush, weeds, and high grass where snakes are more likely to be. Raccoons - these climbing mammals are one of the biggest predators you need to be concerned with. They can't jump, but are adept climbers. They can shimmy up most round metal or wooden poles. Because raccoons are nocturnal, most bluebird landlords are not aware of their presence.
The main evidence that they've found a nest, is that the nest has been disturbed and partially torn apart, with dirty foot marks on the pole. Often, broken egg pieces are found under the pole. Raccoons will keep coming back to a nest box once they've found food there once.
So, this is yet another critical reason why you need to monitor your bluebird housing regularly. This is the only way you'll know there's a raccoon problem and enable you to prevent it from happening in the future. There are several possible solutions. First, put a metal raccoon baffle on the pole to prevent them from climbing the pole. This is the most effective way.
Is there anything else I can do to protect my birds? Hi Nancy, snakes are generally stopped by predator guards, such as cone baffles and stovepipe baffles, on the pole of a box.
Read this page about dealing with predators , including snakes. You can try adding sheet metal to a tree trunk above and below the box to prevent access by the snake, or trim the branches near the box. Then, when this nestling fledges, we recommend installing the box on a pole instead, if it is not on one already. If you have more questions, please email us at nestwatch cornell.
The comment sections are not monitored regularly. We have a Bluebird nest in our Bluebird house. Everything was going well, had 5 eggs as of yesterday. Tonight I checked the box and one egg was missing. It was on the ground and looked like something got to it. Very sad! I have seen a sparrow in the backyard, but not very often.. More concerning is that we have not seen the Male Bluebird in a couple days.
I haven read anything about a Male abandoning the Female. I need help!!! Hi Donna, When you find eggs or nestlings displaced or dead, we recommend checking into our Nest Box Troubleshooting Guide which shows common culprits and solutions.
Predators can often drive away adults from a nest; House Sparrows especially have been known to attack adult bluebirds as well as their eggs and young. Alternatively, adults can run into predators in their own time off the nest; males do not spend much time at the nest themselves while the female is laying eggs or incubating, but he is often nearby.
If you have more questions, please contact us at nestwatch cornell. We have a bluebird box where they laid 4 eggs. Have not seen either parent in 2 days. What should I do about the eggs or is it too late to save them?
Hi Micky, whenever you think you find an abandoned nest, we recommend waiting 4 weeks from the day you last saw the adults. This time accounts for a delay in incubation , which sometimes happens, and also a normal incubation period. If after this period the eggs are unchanged, the nest is likely abandoned and you can clean the box out if you wish.
First timer with nesting bluebirds in a box that I cannot readily open…clearly there are babies since we see parents feeding and removing fecal sacs. We have a cone baffle on it and have cut away branches and vines. Is it too late to put on a Noel guard or any other shield around the hole? We are Seeing parents having to fend off catbirds and Sparrows. Wondering if there is anything we can do to make it more difficult for their predators or is it too late with this brood?
Thank you. Hi Lisa, When a nest is active i. The adult bluebirds are going to be quite defensive of their nest — catbirds pose no danger, and the only sparrow species that does are House Sparrows. Unfortunately for now, the best thing you can do is leave the nest as it is.
However, to help reduce competition with possible House Sparrows, we suggest putting up an additional box. This may discourage the House Sparrow from competing with the bluebirds — once a House Sparrow nests in the second box, you are welcome to engage in one of the legal management techniques listed on this page. Egg Oiling is often a good choice, as it encourages House Sparrows to sit on eggs that will never hatch for a longer period of time than normal, which lessens the amount of time they will have to harass other species.
There is one wren box the wrens I see are coming from out of the bushes. Hi Jan, to reduce the chances of wrens overtaking boxes intended for other species, the best thing to do is either reduce competition by adding more boxes, or moving th nest boxes after the breeding season is over and no eggs or live young are inside anymore away from wren habitat. Wrens like shrubby habitat, especially at the edges of forests or woodlands. Bluebirds and swallows prefer more open habitat such as in the middle of a meadow or open field.
I had a housefinch nest next to my front door, wedged into a wallhanging next to the door light. I blocked the walkway, did not use my front door, did not turn on the light at night. Checked on the nest around 5 pm. Four babies gone, nest looks intact, one baby deep down in nest, looked like it was suffering. The baby was still hanging on. I took it to a wildlife rehabilitator.
Would the momma have returned to care for this one left, if the other 4 were predated? Also, should I have left the light on at night? Maybe that would have kept predators away? Hi Barbara, The best thing to do in a situation like this is to contact a wildlife rehabilitator immediately before taking any action — they can advise you best how to proceed.
Certified rehabilitators will be able to give you the best advice depending on the situation. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at nestwatch cornell.
Hi again, This is Donna. I emailed you on June fifteenth with a problem; thank you for your reply. I still have the female attending the 4 eggs that remain. My concern now, is that she has been incubating for 21 days plus and no Babies. She is still very attentive to the nest. Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help me decide what to do. Bluebirds began nesting in it a few days ago. After reading about the predators they could have to deal with, I installed a metal pole with a baffle about 10 feet away from the fence.
I want to move the box from the post to the pole. My question is, when is the best time to do this? Hi Maureen, Thanks for reaching out. Once a bird lays eggs in a nest, it becomes protected by federal law and it is illegal to move it, even just 10 feet. I have a bluebird house mounted on a maple tree trunk.
For the first time this year we have bluebirds making a home. Before the bluebirds moved in, we were thinking of adding a spotlight to the tree. My question is could I put a spotlight at the base of the tree to light up the tree at night? Hi Jim. We do not recommend adding a spotlight to illuminate the tree at night.
This would likely make the nest more obvious to predators, and could dissuade the bluebirds from using that box. You could instead add a Noel guard to the front of the nest box and perhaps duct tape a long sheet of acetate around the circumference of the tree as a makeshift predator guard. This is my first time to put up a bluebird box.
I had a bluebird build a nest and laid 5 eggs and they all left the nest May 1. The female started building another nest and laid one egg on Monday. On Tuesday I saw it again going in and out of the box.
I checked the box and the bluebird egg was gone. I found it on the ground with a hole in it. The next day the sparrow would not let the bluebirds on either bluebird box I have in my yard. I left the nest in the box but the female never went back in the box. I took the nest out yesterday after leaving it for 5 days. I put fishing line on top of the roof of the box because I read to do this to deter the male sparrow. I think the fishing line may be keeping the bluebirds from entering the box.
Will the bluebirds build in the box again this year? So upset and sad this happened. Hi Kathy, House Sparrows unfortunately commonly usurp the nests of other native cavity-nesting birds in North America. We have a webpage here that lists out some strategies to help deal with this.
Often if a bird encounters predators or other similar behavior at a nest box, they may decide to nest elsewhere. Bluebirds also have broods per year, so they could be back for a future brood.
For now, only time will tell what will happen next. If you have more questions about this, please email us at nestwatch cornell. These comment sections are not monitored regularly.
Yesterday we watched a large bull snake going after robin nestlings in a spruce. He was mobbed by robins and a magpie, and ended up dropping out of the tree. On the ground, the magpie was quite aggressive, repeatedly pecking and grabbing the snake by the tail. The snake eventually escaped into tall grass. The whole incident was quite surprising to us.
We were unaware of any magpies or other robins nesting nearby, and wondered why they joined the defense. Was he driving away the snake so he could have the nestlings to himself? We have brewers blackbirds nesting all over our yard. Question… if the nest is attacked by a larger bird or squirrel do the parentS hang around or go on their way? Seems like they are still around.
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