Newsgroups: rec.birds Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!world!rmura From: rmura@world.std.com (Ron Mura) Subject: Re: Bluebird Comments In-Reply-To: tfisher@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU's message of 18 Apr 91 15: 00:26 GMT Message-ID: Sender: rmura@world.std.com (Ron Mura) Organization: The World References: <1991Apr18.150026.18512@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU> Date: Sat, 20 Apr 1991 01:42:53 GMT Lines: 45 In article <1991Apr18.150026.18512@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU> tfisher@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU (Tom Fisher) writes: > > We have a pair of nesting Bluebirds. We also have many House > Sparrows (Weaver Finches) around. Both varieties compete for the > same nesting places. We spend a lot of time "helping" the > Bluebirds by destroying the Sparrows nests. However, my wife and > I both work and therefore, we can't be around all the time. Last > year, I came home one day and found that the Sparrows had built a > nest over the top of the Bluebird nest (and the Bluebird nest had > eggs in it). I got rid of the Sparrow nest and the Bluebirds > came back seemingly unperturbed. I know what you're going through. We had house sparrows attack tree swallow young one year. I ended up doing constant watching of the nest and chasing the house sparrows away during daylight hours (5 a.m. to 9 p.m.) for the few days until they fledged. (Five made it but one whose wing was damaged couldn't fly and eventually die.) I think the best appoach is to destory the sparrow nests as they make them. They eventually quit and move on, at least for a while. I would never kill the sparrows; they're as much a part of nature as the bluebirds and it's only through man's values that they become a "problem." I once caught a pair of house sparrows and moved them to a park where there were many others four miles away, which saved that year's brood, but it's a practice that is discouraged by wildlife specialists. I suppose if it got bad at a critical time you could catch them and keep them in a temporary aviary until the young fledge. (This would be illegal, I believe, for all species except a few like house sparrow that were originally introduced from elsewhere.) I don't think changing the hole size will help, and any such change might cause the adults to abandon a nest they have already started. Another thing I've heard twice (but never confirmed) is that bluebirds will nest in a box with cracks/openings in the top, while other birds won't. Of course, that might reduce the chances of success too. -- - Ron Mura, Natick, Massachusetts rmura@world.std.com