Señora’s Bluebird House

A few years back the Missouri State Bird, the eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis), started showing up in our yard regularly.  It was not very long after that when Senora began talking about desiring a pair of bluebird houses.  After listening to her dream for a spell I did an internet search for plans on building bluebird houses, and I found a one board plan at Birdwatching Bliss.  Having some boards of the size specified lying around from when we had a fence put in to accommodate Princess Lily’s rambles around the yard, I thought – how perfect.  I downloaded and printed off the plans.  And there they sat in a folder on my desk in my man cave for much longer period of time than I care or dare to confess.

Last spring one of my mother’s round-to-its magically dropped from the sky, and I dusted off the plans. I found two boards as specified, and enlisted the aid of Señora. We constructed two houses, easily and rapidly.  The recommended height for mounting bluebird houses is four to six feet above the ground.  Since Señora wanted one on either side of the yard, I thought mounting them on fence posts with an extension would be just the ticket.  We did so.  Within a few days we actually had bluebirds nesting in the newly fabricated tract housing.  We were ecstatic.

Our ecstasy lasted only a little while, however.  Within a few days of occupancy and after the nests had been constructed, both houses showed signs of damage and their positions had been altered.  Going to YouTube University I discovered what I had done was created what one YouTuber called lunchboxes for raccoons. I have surprised these masked denizens of the night more than once in my headlights as they where entering or exiting their private highway system that some species centric souls term storm drains.  All that was very disturbing as our plan was not to feed raccoons.

With the previous magical round-to-it having expired, the bluebird houses sat there all winter although my intentions were to remove them. Before I knew it spring was here and bluebirds had nested in both our houses.  As before the critters got into one.  I removed that bluebird house, and I was in the process of removing the second house when I started being dive bombed by bluebirds.  They were still nested in there, so obviously I left it alone.  Hopefully, the raccoons will too.

When we discovered what had happened to the first bluebird nest, tears swelled up in Señora’s eyes. A few years ago I had purchased from JCs Wildlife a pole with squirrel baffler for our bird feeders. At the time I choked a little on the price, but we have since saved the pole’s cost in bird seed many times over by not feeding the squirrels.  It has been well worth the money.  This same company sells bluebird houses with varmit bafflers. Remembering Señora’s tears and with the excuse of Mother’s Day coming up, I bought Señora a gift of this bluebird combo.

The bird house and pole with baffler arrived, and I put it together.  We found a suitable site with the required ten feet from any launching point for raccoons or squirrels (who will also eat bird eggs) .  So far no bluebirds have found the house, but there was a sparrow perched on the roof, singing up a storm.  I am assuming it was a male house sparrow advertising for a mate to share the new digs he had just found. This sent Señora into a minor tizzy. She leaped into the backyard threatening the sparrow and all his progeny for seven generations with bodily harm and curses worthy of the crones of Macbeth if he did not forgo his attempt at occupancy.

Nature will do what nature does, so we will wait, with our fingers crossed, for bluebirds to take up residence in the new house.

And so it goes.

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