I'll be posting a number of Tree Swallow and Eastern Bluebird shots over the next week or so. I observed two locations where the Bluebirds had set up shop and were building their nests; however, the nesting boxes were coveted by the Tree Swallows. The bird boxes are generally placed in pairs with the boxes about five meters apart for each pair and the pairs spaced spaced at some 30 to 50 meters apart along the fence line of a road.

The male Bluebird vigerously defended the nest site whilst the female brought in the nesting material. It seems that he protected both boxes in the pair. Each time a Swallow would get on to one of the boxes, or even get too close to them, the male Bluebird would dive from its perch in a tree and chase away the Tree Swallows even though they outnumbered him three to one. The male would then perch near, or on, one of the nest boxes for a short period and then return to his tree perch. This repeated itself time and again during the hour or so that I observed them. They were too busy defending and attacking that they paid little heed to me sitting in my vehicle about five meters (15 feet) away with the window down, just clicking away.