The following is from a Catch of the Day email sent out on May 9th, 2015. I repeat it here because the lovely  weather that we have has me thinking  thought of spring, and particularly, in the return of the mountain bluebirds to Goats Peak. Our nearest neighbor, Maurice G, a talented woodworker, has offered to build a bluebird nest box, of dimensions that will exclude larger birds, like starlings and the flickers, which evicted the bluebirds last year.

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May 9, 2015

Today I hiked the little mountain, Goats Peak, on the opposite side of Gellatly Road from where we used to live. On the way up I noticed a Coyote in the field that borders the road, just standing in long grass, watching me. I managed to take one hurried photo before it left the area, loping around me in a wide circle to enter the forest farther along the edge of the old burn.

My hope today was to find Mountain Bluebirds-- and if possible, a nest. Last year at this season, I found two occupied bluebird nests, both in holes made by woodpeckers in tall pine stumps. Today I was not disappointed, for I found a pair of bluebirds visiting and entering a vacated woodpecker hole. By its size, about 2.5 CM in diameter, I judged it to have been made by flickers.

This pair of bluebirds acted as if they were very excited about finding the perfect nest site. They fluttered their wings and moved about quickly from branch to branch near the tree hole. Then both birds entered the nest cavity repeatedly, sometimes both together, but neither staying inside more than a minute or less.

I mounted a trail camera on the side of another stump nearby, hoping for pictures of bluebird nesting activities similar to those that I got last year. Since bluebirds are quite small, I am hoping that they are large enough to trigger movement sensor of the camera particular make of camera that I used.

As I was seated, eating my lunch, about 40 metres from the nest tree, something happened that was a complete surprise; a male Red-shafted Flicker, possibly the original owner of the nest hole, flew in and perched on the tree just below the hole! The bluebirds left the area in alarm--while the flicker entered the hole and disappeared from sight inside. In a minute, his head reappeared in the opening and he seemed to be looking about for the bluebirds. Then he came out and perched, in typical flicker fashion, on the side of the tree, just below the hole. 

Now both bluebirds reappeared, flying aggressively toward the flicker in an effort to drive him away. The flicker opened his beak in alarm, or in self-defence-but he didn't budge from his position on the tree. I don't think the little birds actually made contact (they would be helpless, I would think, against such a large and powerful adversary) but they had the flicker worried and after each attacking pass by the bluebirds, the flicker looked about in all directions to see from where they might attack next.

 Finally the flicker flew away and for a few minutes the bluebirds were gone too. They may have followed to see him off! I chose his time to leave the area and head for home.