Bluebirds

Bluebirds have begun nest building in the house I put up back in February (see Feb. 26, 2007 entry). I opened it up as soon as I arrived and found a full blown nest which consisted of pine straw and hay.

Later that evening I watched as they made trip after trip bringing more nesting material to the box. The other bluebird house I put up on my neighbors property had a nest in it, but not a bird nest. Instead I found a "loaded" paper wasp nest. By loaded I mean it was covered with wasps and I came very close to introducing my hand to them. I should've seen this coming. I knew when I put up these houses that paper wasps would try to nest in them. Normally you would rub a bar of soap on all the areas of the house that a wasp could use as a nest area.

The soap prevents the nest from sticking. So that's what I did- I removed the nest and soaped it up good. I returned the next day to find that bluebirds had begun to build in it also. As the season progresses I will report on any and all activity.