I was just in the kitchen cleaning up the blender from a tasty treat of vanilla soy milk, a banana and a scoop of SlimFast (try it with some ice cubes to make it frothy; it's absolutely delicious!) when I saw a pair of bluebirds near the box. As I was thinking, "oh, there's mama and papa checking on their nest, very good" another pair of bluebirds swooped in and chased the 1st pair away. I assume that the aggressors are the original pair since a.) they were the more aggressive and b.) once they had won the battle, mama went into the box.
What does this mean? Well, bluebirds will not interrupt the nests of other birds, including their own species. This "new" pair was probably just combing the area for potential nest sites and happened across restricted real estate. My guess is that they are looking for a place for a 2nd brood, their first nest box having not been cleaned out for them by a box owner.
Posted by Elizabeth at June 18, 2004 10:46 AM