All nesting, foraging, and feeding of nestlings occurs within the territory. Pairs may bond any time of the year, sometimes as early as the fall of a bird's hatch year. Males court females intensively, hopping stiffly around them, puffing their feathers, and erecting their tails like a turkey. Males may offer food to the female during courtship and the early stages of nest building. Once formed, pair bonds are lifelong, but a bird may find a new mate to replace one that has died.
Males build multiple nests within the territory, but females select the final nest site.
They also nest in nest boxes and other, less-natural nooks and crannies such as mailboxes, glove compartments, tin cans, and old shoes. Both sexes construct the nest. It can take a pair from four days to over a week to complete a nest. Nests, dome-shaped with a side entrance, are made from bark strips, dried grasses, dead leaves, sticks, pine needles, mosses, feathers, straw, shed snakeskin, paper, and string. Nests are lined with hair or fur.