Test of nest box preferences of Eastern Bluebirds, Sialia sialis, and Tree Swallows, Tachycineta bieolor

Abstract

Choice by Eastern Bluebirds, Sialia sialis, and Tree Swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, of nest boxes designed specifically for each was recorded in 1985-87 at two study areas in Ontario (Canada). All the bluebirds used the boxes designed for them and Tree Swallows used the boxes designed for them over four times as often as the bluebird boxes. House Wrens, Troglodytes aedon, did not show any preference. Too few Black-capped Chickadees, Parus atricapillus, House Sparrows, Passer domesticus, and Great-crested Flycatchers, Myiarchus crinitus, used the boxes to indicate a preference. Ontario Eastern Bluebirds chose boxes with larger entrances than those in Manitoba