I'm sick about Mrs blue bird today. I went to check the house to see if she built some more of her nest & there she was laying in the house with face pecked by a house sparrow. They have been chasing the blue birds for days & I try to get close enough with the bb gun to get them but they fly away before I can get a shot at them. I put the shiny ribbons over the entrance hole but it's not detering them this year. So tomorrow I'm going to get a sparrow trap to get the dirty brats. I left the door open on the bird house so the sparrows don't build their nest until I get a trap. I hope this works. I picked her up from the house but she flew out of my hand & went for the safety of the weeds. I hope she survives in there, at least if she can eat she can get bugs. She already raised some babies in the house before the sparrows came. I'll post more on this later when I have an outcome with dealing with the sparrows. J
That is so sad! I hope she can survive! When you say you had shiney ribbons over the entrance hole...did your spooker look like these on this link?
http://www.sialis.org/sparrowspooker.htm
This is how a sparrow spooker is supposed to look. The mylar is actually over the roof of the nestbox. While nothing is fullproof, it should help. Some people have luck with the fishing line around the entrance hole too...I believe there is a page on sialis about that too, I have never done it though. Just always used a sparrow spooker on my Blues boxes.
I hope you can catch and dispose of the HOSP. I just set an inbox trap this evening for one that is trying to take over a box that the Tree Swallows just fledged from. I am hoping I will have him in the morning.
Good luck!
Donna
I asked my DH the other day to empty the HS nest from the box because I knew it had eggs in it. Well, he didn't and they hatched. He now thinks that I'm mean because I emptied the nest with baby HS in it. I showed him your posts and now he realizes that we can't have them living around here. We were just getting way to many. I think they love the pine trees our neighbor has. Now I have a house wren again building his nests everywhere. He even built in the tin ornamental house that the BB just fledged from. Argh! No bird ever bothered it before. I don't get it. LOL Tomorrow I will empty it for sure.
I hope your mamma BB makes it too. I would have felt awful if I would have seen that. I'd lay and wait for all of the sparrows and give them a bb pellet too.
Kelly in NH...
I do believe it is against the law to destroy nests of native birds. A wren will build nests everywhere and then the female picks the one for laying eggs. Be patient.... that's what I do and then I clean out the unchosen nests. I had nests in about five houses until she picked one.
Good luck
Gardenerzone5Pa,
House Sparrows are bane for all our native cavity nesting birds. I sure hope that your female Bluebird survived the attack. Please do keep us updated.
Jean ~ Taylorsville, Georgia
http://jean-livingsimple.blogspot.com/
Kelley NE IN:I asked my DH the other day to empty the HS nest from the box because I knew it had eggs in it. Well, he didn't and they hatched. He now thinks that I'm mean because I emptied the nest with baby HS in it. I showed him your posts and now he realizes that we can't have them living around here. We were just getting way to many. I think they love the pine trees our neighbor has. Now I have a house wren again building his nests everywhere. He even built in the tin ornamental house that the BB just fledged from. Argh! No bird ever bothered it before. I don't get it. LOL Tomorrow I will empty it for sure.
Great Kelley! You will have more native birds.
Well here is an update on the blue bird mama, I haven't seen her but I hear the male singing once in a while. I now have a sparrow trap but I haven't heard them around lately. I'm hoping now that I closed the door on the bb house that the male will find a female & they will nest again. If I catch the sparrows trying to take over the house I'll put the trap in & catch one or both of them. More later. J
I think I now know why my Grandpa called them Spatzies. It was during WWII that I learned the term and you all know what Spatzies rhymes with.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak.
Don
Great move and news J.
Happy update for blue birds, Mrs. bb is building a nest in the house & Mr. bb watches. I hope they can raise babies again without the house sparrows interfering. I have a trap now so if they try to take over the house I'll trap them & get rid of them. I just hope they don't return & kill mrs. again or mr. bb. I'm not sure if it's the same female that was hurt or a different one, but I do hope she survived the attack. more later. J
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