In one of the houses I built for the chickadees, I noticed that a bird had begun to build a nest in it. Strange tho, the nesting material was all twigs which is indicative of a dove nest. However, the hole is too small for a dove...and I’ve never heard of a dove using a birdhouse. I think the hole is only about 1 3/8” in diameter. Any thoughts on what may have started the nest?
Look for a House Wren. They don’t need much of a hole, and their nest is a web of little twigs. You can lways tell when this wren is in the area as it has a distinctive song that goes on and on and on and on ————LOL!
I once had a House Wren and A Chickadee vie for a Wren house. The Wren would go in with a twig and the Chickadee would go in after he came out and take the twig out! It was so funny to watch! The Chickadee finally won and raised 3 little ones. I was delighted to watch, when they left the nest.
Interesting when there is a raptor in the area. All of a sudden any birds on the feeder are totally motionless — not moving one bit of itself. And the whole yard is totally quiet. Most often it is a Cooper or Sharp-Shinned Hawk, but sometimes a Red-Tail. But for some reason the little birds seem to know when the Red Tail is not after them, as they will go about their business. Maybe they know the larger Hawk is not as quick as those other two much smaller ones.
One thing though: House wrens are also little monsters. They often do NOT tolerate other songbirds nesting in the area. They are infamous for sneaking up to other songbird nest and puncturing (with their sharp bill) the eggs that are laid therein.
Yes, it sounds gruesome, but apparently the strategy works: the other songbird nest will fail (or else they will move on) and the wren will have all the limited resources of your yard to itself.
I always tell people it's a bird-eat-bird world out there. If we really knew what went on behind the scenes, we'd be mortified! Lol!