Expert: Roger Lederer - 9/16/2009

Question
QUESTION:      First thing is  I live in Indiana, this might make a difference. I built 2 bluebird boxes and put them up about 2 weeks  ago. Also I put up a finch feeder about 3 months ago and I've seen no finches or blue bids, what else can I do to encourage them to come and roost and eat? We live in a subdivision where 4 blocks south is a 10 acre wooded area and when I could walk there I saw all kinds of birds but now I can't get there so I have to try and bring them to me, so I can enjoy them in my back yard.
         Thanks for you help
         Don

ANSWER: You didn't do anything wrong. It's just a matter of timing. Bluebird nesting season is in the spring and summer; they are not nesting now and thus won't use your boxes. (They only use boxes during nesting season.) They might use them in the spring if the boxes are appealing to them. I don't know what your subdivision looks like, so I don't know about the suitability of the boxes.
As far as the finch feeder, birds typically use feeders in the late fall and winter and early spring. In the summer and early fall there is plenty of wild food around, so they rarely come to feeders. Finches and sparrows and etc should show up when the weather turns cold. Bluebirds won't use finch feeders if you are feeding seeds as bluebirds don't eat seeds. Besides, the bluebirds will migrate out of your area and you won't see them again until spring. So just be patient and the birds will show up at your feeder soon and the boxes in the spring.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION:     Roger
       Thank you for your answer on my question. I was talking with a friend today and he wants to know why for 2 years this pair of blue birds have come and nested but this year they didn't' come back. Any thoughts on this?
         Thanks          
         Don


Answer
There are all kinds of possibilities. Bluebirds might live 5-7 years so they might have just died of old age. They migrate south for the winter and return in the spring - they might have gotten lost or killed by a storm or cold weather. They might have starved somewhere along the route. They might have been eaten by a predator. Or they just might have gone somewhere else to nest. I just can't say for sure.