03.05.09

Fending off the flickers.

Over the past few months, the local flickers have shown a great deal of interest in the bluebirds' nesting box. (They also made things a big messy by leaving their "marks" on the top of the box.)

I was anxious to see what would happen once the bluebirds arrived, and this morning all parties met face-to-face. Both the male and female bluebird were around and in the box. After they had flown off, a flicker stopped by and landed on top. The first time this happened, the male blue bird dive-bombed it and the flicker took off rather quickly. The second time however, the flicker stood his ground. He refused to leave the top of the box, even with both blue birds after him. After several minutes, and just before I was going to intervene, he flew off. The bluebirds were back on and in the box, appearing to be "checking" it out.

I'm not 100% sure what type of nesting flickers prefer (will probably have to do some research on the topic), but I'm hopeful the bluebirds stand their ground.