Second Nesting
My Momma and Poppa Blue have laid their first egg in their second nest in the same box. I’m still riddled with sparrow problems — not one has gone in the repeating ground trap. But it seems as long as the sparrows have “their” boxes they’ll leave the bluebirds to their house. And I’ll addle the sparrow eggs. Also put the sparrow spook up now since the first egg has appeared. Now back to worrying every day.
Maribee < Lancaster County>
Phil Said,
July 8, 2009 @ 12:16 am
How did you make out? I’ve started changing my strategy on my bb trail from removing sparrow nests to doing what you’re doing; leaving the nest and addling the eggs and coating them with corn oil. Seem like that makes them less vengeful than removing the nest, but it may just depend on the particular sparrow. I also string thin monofilament fishing line on either side of the entrance hole, 2″ out from the hole. I think that also helps discourage the sparrows.
Phil
Maribee Said,
July 8, 2009 @ 7:24 am
I never got to the point of addling… One sparrow nest was knocked over by a runaway horse (Amish-ville here) and one knocked over in a storm… and no efforts to re-nest though I righted both within hours. I started having success with my repeating trap and have caught 16 juvie sparrows and two adult males. I feel bad for the juvies and wish I had more of the bad guys! My yard was pretty peaceful until tonight, when several adult males showed up again. Oh, so frustrating, and stressful! 3 of the 5 eggs of the second nest hatched and youngin’s are doing well… I have an aggressive mom and pops and one baby from the first nesting is doing some defending too! Lots of feeding and protecting, so I’m hopeful for these three. But of course I worry all the time. Wish someone would have told me how stressful bluebirding can be!
Maribee Said,
July 19, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
Just fledged three babies from this nest! (two uncracked eggs left behind unhatched….).