Starlings were checking out a Great Crested Flycatcher box I have hanging outside my second story window off the chimney. I changed the direction the box was facing and they immediately started building, so I put a nest cam in for the purpose of observation. "Know thy enemy."
05/26: Sometimes the birds bring material OUT of the nestbox.
Even before there is hardly any nesting material in the box, the female does the nest cup formation dance.
The female makes an amazing series of vocalizations - whistles, clicks, and what sounds like a human voice, when what I assume is her mate approaches. Other times she hunkers down in the box, another starling enters, there is a scuffle, and one quickly leaves. I don't know if this is not her mate.
A House Wren quickly and quietly snuck into the box to check it out.
The box door was slightly open, and she kept moving nesting material away from the crack.
During nest building, the female? male? has REMOVED material from the box.
Eventually the starlings gave up, with a partially completed nest.
All bluebirders must feel like "one of the chosen ones" when we are fortunate enough to have nesting bluebirds on our own property....
- Lillian Lund, Sialia, 1984
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