Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!att!ihnp4!ihlpf!jimf
From: jimf@ihlpf.ATT.COM (JF)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Bluebirds
Message-ID: <5446@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Date: 27 Jul 88 13:45:45 GMT
Organization: Big Rock Creek
Lines: 48

Bluebirds like a box about 4-7 feet off the ground. The hole should
be small enough that starlings can't get in. (Sparrows can get in,
however.) You can find instructions on building bluebird boxes in a
library, or you can probably buy a box at a hardware or nursery store.
    
Since I got flamed by several people for this posting

    >Finally, the bluebirds won out. We have 2 nesting pairs. One
    >box has Mom sitting on 5 eggs. The other has 4 freshly hatched
    >babies! This box is less than 50 ft. from my garage. The sparrows
    >gave up after I ripped out their nests at least 30 times.
    
I thought I should post the following.

I also put up some wood duck boxes (they too are running out of
good habitat). The starlings immediately took over. I ripped their
nests out maybe 10 times and then they gave up. Unfortunately, I
never got any wood ducks this year, but maybe next year.
    
Sparrows are aggressive, over abundant and they drive other 
birds away. Bluebirds are uncommon nowadays and lack good nesting sites
and habitat. Sparrows can and do nest anywhere and everywhere. They're
an import from Europe which has gradually driven out a lot of other
bird varieties in the last century by monopolizing nest sites and
habitat.  I rip their nests out of the bluebird boxes I built for
the same reason a person pulls weeds out of their flower garden!

This morning there were 3 sparrows surrounding the box, 
trying to get in, driving the bluebirds away, etc  - basically trying 
to kill the babies. They'll probably succeed, since their personality
is to dominate all nesting sites and prevent other birds from 
successfully nesting. Earlier this year this same pair of bluebirds 
had 4 eggs in another box I built. I counted as many as 7 sparrows 
fighting the bluebirds. If the mother left the nest, the sparrows 
wouldn't let her back in. Eventually, the sparrows got in the box,
broke the eggs and built their nest right on top of the bluebird nest.

Actually, rather than just rip out their nests, I'd rather exterminate 
the sparrows altogether if I could figure out an efficient way to do it.

Why did the state of Illinois kill all the fish in the Rock River to 
get rid of carp and then restock with bass, walleye, etc?  Why do most
state parks have bluebird boxes in them? Sometimes Nature gets out of 
whack and needs a little prod.

I don't think obviously uninformed bleeding hearts should be
making value judgements out of total ignorance. You flamers should
built sparrow and starling boxes.