BLUE BIRDS

Guest · Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:57 pm

Will a blue bird that has been traped & carried two miles or so down the road and released, return two my site??????? and no it was not harmed @ all!!!!

THANKS
I R COTTON-TN

Doug Martin - PA · Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:33 pm

My guess is yes it will.

Birds especially have an excellent homing instinct. Especially ones that migrate distances.

You could drive all day and it would probably make it back there before you do.

Doug

D'Nese · Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:57 pm

I guess my question is why would you want to do that?

James Johnson · Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:04 pm

D'Nese wrote:I guess my question is why would you want to do that?

And the answer is: “To keep the blue aggressive rascal out of the Martin Housing.”

James Johnson · Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:08 pm

D'Nese wrote:I guess my question is why would you want to do that?

And the answer is: “To keep the blue aggressive rascal out of the Martin Housing

birdy girl · Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:19 pm

James
Do you have a blue bird house up for the blue bird? Do you have an established martin colony? Our blue birds go into our gourds and probably stay there at night, but as the martins come back and claim their cavities, the blue birds move on to their houses we have provided for them.

DelmaWhisenhunt · Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:28 pm

My experience with blue birds has been, they sit on top of martin house and when a martin attempts to land, they nail them good. I have seen them be worse pests than a sparrow. I am hoping this year the blue birds will be settled in by the time the martins arrive. However I have been noticing one sitting on top of martin house that will be raised this week. Thus far the holes have been taped closed. No telling what will take place while I am away visiting. Maybe I can live with the saying, what you don't see and know, won't hurt you. Wonder can sometimes cause anxiety/ so I will try to think of the more important things of life. I have been a wanna be martin landlord for several years, occasionally I throw in the towel, but soon pick it up again.

Guest · Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:36 pm

I have as many blue bird houses as I do gourds for martins (about 20 of each). The one time that a blue bird started building a nest in one of my martin gourds, I took that gourd off the rack and put it on a shepards hook next to the gourd rack. Every day I move the shepards hook and gourd a little further away from the martin housing. After a week or so it was far enough away as not to cause any problems. The blue birds tolerated a little movement every day and stayed with their gourd. If you want to bring your blue bird to me, I would love to have it, along with any tree swallows, barn swallows, wrens, titmouses, wood peckers, nut hatches, well just about anything except a starling or house sparrow. Give this a try first to see if it works for you. Good luck.

Steve Kroenke · Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:37 pm

We have many bluebirds in our area. They roost in our purple martin gourds until the returning martins finally drive the bluebirds out. I still see a few bluebirds sneaking into unoccupied gourds in my martin colony each night!

I have a bluebird house not more than 20 feet from some of my gourd racks. A bluebird is a GREAT sentinel and will warn the martins of an approaching Accipiter hawk or merlin often before the martins see the danger. Just the other day the male bluebird gave his high pitch alarm call and a merlin was approaching my colony site. The martins reacted immediately and escaped.

Bob, my neighbor, has a bluebird box attached to the pole of one of his Lone Star Goliads. The bluebirds nest there and there are no interactions between the bluebirds and the nesting martins. The martins "own" the Goliad and the bluebirds know it!

Bluebirds are usually a problem for unestablished martin colony sites or maybe very small colonies with just a pair or two of martins. If bluebirds claim an unoccupied gourd rack or house, then they may drive away any martins that show an interest. These martins have never nested there and do not have site fidelity and tenacity so they are not "motivated" to fight the bluebirds. I have observed such cases and the male bluebird is very aggressive in defense of his territory and will beat an inquisitive martin all the way to the ground!

You can place bluebird houses as far away from your martin colony as possible so that the bluebirds will perhaps leave the martin housing alone. This is primarily for those unestablished martin colonies. A well established martin colony will under most situations successfully defend their territory against bluebirds.

Steve

James Johnson · Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:07 pm

I have three BB houses located within 100 yds or less to my bird housing (Trios & natural gourds). BBs successful nest and fledge every year from all three BB houses. I have never had a problem at my home in N AR. However, I have been trying to establish a colony at the home of my sister who lives in central AR. The housing at that location is oneTRIO with four natural gourds. There are two BB houses in the area. Last season BBs occupied one cavity of the TRIO and successfully nested before I got back to check the housing. The BBs fledged but no Martins occupied the housing. The BBs returned this year, have been trapped, and relocated twice within five mile. I spoke with my sister yesterday who said the BBs are back. I'll be making the 150 mile trip this weekend to trap them again and this time give them a 150 ride before release. My sister lives in an ideal location with Martins in the area but still has no Martin occupants.

Louise Chambers · Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:36 pm

Trapping and transporting any native songbird - martins, bluebirds, wrens - is illegal. I think using the methods outlined by Dan Drew in his tri-habitation site is the way to go - see
http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/~Dan/T ... GENCY.html

James Johnson · Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:20 pm

Louise Chambers wrote:Trapping and transporting any native songbird - martins, bluebirds, wrens - is illegal. I think using the methods outlined by Dan Drew in his tri-habitation site is the way to go - see
http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/~Dan/T ... GENCY.html

Louise, thanks for the information. GREAT site!

Guest · Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:49 pm

Thanks for all the ideas and theories.

I R COTTON-TN

Guest · Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:52 pm

James Johnson wrote:
D'Nese wrote:I guess my question is why would you want to do that?
And the answer is: “To keep the blue aggressive rascal out of the Martin Housing.”

That's the God's honest truth.

I've had to keep my martin houses covered and plugged since last season because the BB's are so persistent, and I've been working like a Trojan to put up more BB houses.

zoefluf · Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:07 pm

If you had Martins last year, the bluebirds won't be able to keep them away. I keep my cavities plugged until the first scout lands on my set-up. No use having open house for the interlopers. My first year I had a four gourd set-up and a bluebird pair raised a family in one of the gourds, right alongside the Martins - I didn't know any better. But, people on this forum took me to task for it and I put up a bluebird house the next year.

I guarantee it, if you put up a bluebird house - problem solved!
Jeanne

D'Nese · Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:21 am

Sorry guys!! What I should of said Louise took care of it for me. I have several BB's that nest in my yard through out the year. Believe it or not they actually chase away any of the starlings that try to check out the BB boxes or the martin houses that I have up. They do like to perch on the houses, (better view up there) but once my martins are back they are already nesting in the boxes and haven't been a problem.