I know it comes with the territory. Since we live in the country, we’re going to have critters of all shapes and sizes. Normally, I don’t mind them. It’s actually kind of fun to spot them. But when they empty a just-filled bird feeder, they become more of a nuisance than an excitement!
My husband’s dad keeps several bird feeders out all year round. He was gone on a trip last week and my sons were checking his feeders when they realized that they had to fill one feeder every day. Now this was a large feeder and should have lasted longer than that.
They suspected a varmint and scheduled a stake-out. Sure enough, the next day they crept into the yard just as a nice plump opossum slithered away from the now empty bird feeder. They followed him and discovered his den in the ravine nearby. They decided to remove the feeder for awhile and wait for Poppa to decide what he wanted to do.
Meanwhile, Poppa had another very large feeder sitting on the picnic table that was emptying very quickly. A middle of the night check showed several raccoons partying around the feeder. They had actually figured out how to open the top of the feeder and were helping themselves! The next day he took a bungee cord and secured the lid to the picnic table. That night he watched some very frustrated coons!
Critters can be a nuisance around a feeder, especially mid-winter when the snows are heavy and there’s little to eat. There are several things you can do to prevent it, such as being careful of your location, and using a squirrel baffle, but every veteran bird-watcher knows, those critters are smart and if you have food, they will try anything to get it!
Poppa moved the bird feeder so it’s harder for the opossum to get to, and he is waiting to see how long it will take those crafty coons to figure out how to undo the bungee cords! It’s all part of the game and adds a little excitement to the long cold winter days!
When should you set out your bluebird boxes? In my part of the country (Southern Iowa) now would be a good time! Bluebirds typically start nesting in March and continue through August.
We’ve always found that having a nest box open and ready in the early season is a great way to attract bluebirds. Many times we are able to get one nesting early in the season before some of the more aggressive birds (such as the house sparrow and the house wren) arrive to compete for the nest boxes.
We’ve attached the nest boxes on hedge posts and metal T-posts (used for fencing), but you could also a commercial wooden post. You can mount them right on trees, but they seem to be more susceptible to predators. (Raccoons, snakes and other climbing predators can easily climb the tree and destroy the nesting birds. Squirrels have also been know to chew and destroy the box itself!)
Once the boxes are out, you are ready for business! Now all you need is spring and the return of the bluebirds. But I’ll have to admit, that seems pretty far away right now! As I am writing this, we are under yet another Winter Storm Warning, and March is just 2 weeks away!
But the thought of spring with all the green leaves, warmer weather and the bluebirds nesting is enough to give me hope that sooner or later, even this winter will have to end! Preparing the bluebird nest boxes is just another act of faith, just like buying my garden seeds!
Finding the perfect home for a nesting bluebird couple isn’t as hard as some might think. In my honest opinion, location is lot more important than a specific kind of bluebird house. If you think about it, bluebirds in the wild would naturally nest in whatever was available in the location they liked.
Actually, I don’t think we have two bluebird houses that are the same on the entire trail! We have several different houses from Woodlink and a few homemade ones. Over the years we’ve discovered a few things that are important to a good bluebird house.
- Either top or side opening houses so cleaning out old nests is easy and you can quickly monitor to see who has moved in. (Personally I prefer top opening)
- Small front opening. This opening should be no bigger than 1.5 inches for Eastern bluebirds to keep other birds out.
- NO perch! Perches aren’t needed on the house by bluebird and they attract sparrows and house wrens.
- A slanting, overhanging roof. This will keep the nest drier during rainy times and will make it harder for a predator to reach in from the top. (Cats and coons can’t sit on the slant as well!)
- NO dark paint! The boxes will heat up way too fast and cook the nestlings. A natural wood color or light paint is always better.
There are many places on line to find plans to build your bluebird houses, and many more places to purchase them. Just keep these ideas in mind and you’ll have no trouble finding the perfect house to attract a bluebird couple to your home!
The location of a bluebird box is critical if you wish to attract bluebirds. The three things to remember are short grass, not to shady and a place to perch.
Bluebirds love to eat grasshoppers, crickets, flies, spiders and many other pesky insects. (One more reason to attract them to your yard!) They perch until they locate a tasty tidbit and then they dive down, pine the bug to the ground and eat it. Bluebirds will nest in an area that has available perches and short grass with minimal shade so it can easily see it’s prey.
Meadows, pastures, cemeteries, golf courses and yes, even yards will work as long as they have the key elements, short grass, not to shady and somewhere to perch. Fence lines, electric lines, branches, even a clothesline will work for a perch.
Locations that don’t work well would be forests, cultivated fields, areas that are too stony or have only long grass, and yards that are too shaded.
Bluebirds are very territorial so if you plan to locate more than box make sure they are at least 300 feet apart. It might be possible to place them closer together if the boxes are not in sight of each other.
A bluebird trail is simply several bluebird boxes along a trail. If you would like to make a trail, as we have, start with putting up one or two boxes the first year and every year add one or two more. It’s well worth the effort to attract these beautiful and beneficial birds!
This is the perfect time of year to plan and prepare for the coming of the bluebirds. If you are serious about birding, you really should consider putting in a bluebird box or two. Several years ago my husband and his father started putting in blue bird houses following the trails that we had developed throughout our rural properties. Now every Spring we anxiously wait to see the first bluebird pair fly in and routinely check the boxes to watch for nestlings. Some years we’ve been successful, others we have not, but every year has been worthwhile!
Years ago bluebirds had many natural nesting cavities. They prefer open spaces at the edge of forests and would use old woodpecker nests, open knot holes in trees and other natural cavities or even rock crevices. But the introduction of the house sparrow and European starling changed all of that. These two invasive species not only took over those natural nesting cavities, but they began to prey on the bluebirds themselves, causing the bluebird population to dwindle.
Now, these beautiful birds are on a comeback thanks to many bird lovers who have put in and maintained man-made nest boxes. But the bluebirds are not the only ones to benefit. It is a joy for any bird watcher to hear the beautiful song of the bluebird and to watch the brilliant flash of blue as it flies by. As Henry David Thoreau said, “He carries the sky on his back.”
I know it comes with the territory. Since we live in the country, we’re going to have critters of all shapes and sizes. Normally, I don’t mind them. It’s actually kind of fun to spot them. But when they empty a just-filled bird feeder, they become more of a nuisance than an excitement!
Critters can be a nuisance around a feeder, especially mid-winter when the snows are heavy and there’s little to eat. There are several things you can do to prevent it, such as being careful of your location, and using a squirrel baffle, but every veteran bird-watcher knows, those critters are smart and if you have food, they will try anything to get it!
