I clean out nest boxes at the end of each season, rather than after the first
brood - just in case the birds get around to producing a second or even third
brood.

Nestboxes are great places for parasites, so cleaning out the old material
keeps their numbers down.


Incidently some French researchers (from the CRBPO in Paris) have shown that
the dynamic of Kittiwake populations in the few colonies along La Manche
(sorry Serge if got that wrong) are driven by ticks. Birds nest at sites until
the tick infestation (the little blighters hide out in rock crevices outside
the breeding season) gets too high, then move on. The birds return to the
former colony afte ra few years once most of the ticks have died off and the
cycle repeats.

I assume the same might be true for hole nesters.


Stuart MacKay