Bluebird Behavior (3 Viewers)

[CantonBlue]

Hi all. I'm new here and thought this would be a great place to ask a few questions about the bluebirds in my yard. I live in Canton, GA (north of Atlanta) and when we moved here in October 2005, I put up 3 bluebird boxes in my backyard. We have about 2.5 acres so I was able to create a nice trail with my boxes. In about 3-5 days after putting the boxes out, I noticed quite a lot of bluebirds checking out the boxes every day. Flying in and flying out. Sometimes there would be as many as 10-12 bluebirds in my yard. I was not sure what they were doing since they do not lay their eggs in the fall.

Anyway, spring rolls around and they began building their nests in my boxes. Two of the boxes housed bluebird clutches and one of the boxes housed a family of titmice.

Same thing is happening this fall that happened last fall. The bluebirds are checking out the boxes again. Flying in and flying out most of the morning. I had read somewhere that you should remove the old nesting material every year, so last weekend I opened up each of the boxes to remove the nests from last spring and one of the boxes had 3 acorns in the nest. These acorns were the exact same size of their eggs. My questions are as follows:

1) What are the bluebirds doing checking out the boxes this time of year?
2) What the heck was up with the acorns? It was almost as though they were claiming the box for next spring or they were seeing if the old nest was a good fit?

Thanks for any help any of you can give me here. I am thrilled to have so many bluebirds in my yard and I would like to understand them a bit more. I just hope the Chuck Will's Widow doesn't come back in the spring. Boy is that bird loud and annoying all night!

 

[Katy Penland]

Hi, CantonBlue! I see this is your first post, so a warm welcome to you from all of us on staff here at BirdForum!

Afraid I can't help with your bluebird behavior questions, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly -- well, maybe when they wake up tomorrow! -- who can.

 

[Dave B Smith]

Hi CantonBlue,
And another welcome to the Birdforum.

 

[CantonBlue]

Thanks for the welcome messages. I was hoping that someone could shed some light on the blubirds hanging around my house.

This morning I counted 12 of them!! They were everywhere. We just built a barn on our property and there is some areas around the construction site that has some standing water. At one point there were 8 bluebirds drinking and bathing in the water. It was quite a site.

I would still like to know what they are doing with the bird houses this time of year and what the accorns were all about.

 

[Markus Jais]

Hi

I am not an expert on bluebirds. In fact I have only seen a Moutain Bluebird (I live in Germany and have only once been to the US until now) but I noticed this behaviour also with other European species like Great Tits (relatives of the chickadees).

Sometimes the birds rest at night in the nest boxes. Resident birds often
check out there territory year around in order to keep out intruders.

So I think the Bluebirds might check out the nest boxes to find a suitable place to
stay overnight.

Markus

 

[deborah4]

Hi CantonBlue

(welcome to BF btw)

Are your 'bluebirds' related to Blue Jays? Blue Jays diet consists of acorns and they apparently 'stache' them, rather like squirrels! Either way, your birds could be doing the same. Therefore, it may be that the acorns have nothing to do with eggs at all. Females also start to make 'dummy' nests before breeding, once nested, the male brings her food to the nest, which would include acorns. It could well be that the male has brought acorns to the nest as part of a pre-mating ritual - ie. showing her he will provide. (Perhaps a bit like a male bird would carry sticks in it's beak as part of courtship/competition during mating season)

Found this which you may find an interesting read, even if your bluebirds aren't Blue Jays:

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cach...est&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a