Jonathan Like 2labs mentioned I see several will roost in my boxes in the winter .I just checked one of my boxes yesterday and the are starting a nest .I have had a total of 12 eggs hatched and young fledged from the same box in one year .If you ever get a chance come south to photograph bluebirds feeding on sumac heads I would be glad to pay you for something like that. I think the bluebird became one of my favorite birds because of the paintings of Ned Smith .His art work of song birds is special.

Today I'll check the BB houses, clean out any messy sparrow nests

330-Trapper, Do the sparrows occupy your boxes after the Bluebirds have nested in them and left, or do they compete for the vacancy in the boxes during the nesting season?

Jonathan

Seems like most the time they will. I have only put up wren hoses cause sparrows take any with a bigger hole

There is another "Bluebird", the Tree Swallow, that is the most fierce competitor for many of the boxes in my area.

Jonathan

On my 3/4 acre I have 3 bluebird boxes. At least one of them has a bluebird nesting in it going on 30 consecutive years .Most years they will hatch two clutches of eggs .And some years it is 3 .The tree swallows and wrens arrive after the bluebirds are already sitting on eggs so the first nesting is mostly uncontested .The completion can get pretty aggressive once all three species are after the same boxes .I sometimes decide that the bluebirds will win by discouraging the other birds. And if things go right the bluebirds generally nest a third time but if they do it is mostly just two or three eggs the third time around .During the winter I sometimes have flocks of a dozen or more in my yard .By the way the Tree Swallow pictures are great

Mountain Bluebirds are distinguished from the other bluebirds by the male's all blue coloration, without rusty underparts which females have.

I have seen them here for a while now. That deep blue is a color of it's own just beautiful.

It would be cool if we saw them more here