Blue Birds in Nesting Gourds (first year)

[CBader]

We have an established purple martin colony on the golf course here at Leisure World, Silver Spring Maryland. We have counted as many as 35 martins flying over the colony. We have older condo style houses that are well attended. The martins are also showing interest in the 2 new gourd sets we put of this year. And we have at least one bluebird inspecting a gourd in each of the sets. I read the protocol here re: bluebirds that have not established an active nest. Should we activate that protocol or just keep an eye on the gourd sets. We hate to plug the holes since martins have been in and out of the gourds.

Also I know bluebirds have a large territory and will defend their nests. We have 28 bluebird boxes along the golf course we monitor (some are still empty). If we plug the holes that the bluebirds have been in (we have a webcam and it looked like the bluebird was moving pine needles around in the gourd) will it go to one of the
alternative bluebird boxes? Do we need to move a bluebird box within 40 feet, facing the gourds? And will more than one bluebird try to nest in multiple gourds on the same pole?

Any advice is appreciated!

Cheryl