Bird Watching: Bluebird thread #10, 1 by 2dCousinDave

2dCousinDave wrote:
These are fledges from a previous female. The one this one chased off, or worse. They fledged on June 3rd and returned to the feeder 8 days later. The new female has completed her nest but no eggs yet.

This morning I looked out on another panic situation. A male HOSP was harrassing them by flying into the birdhouse and daring them to come in after him. They know better than that but they were perched on the roof and basically having a fit. I went down and he flew out. I put the VanErt trap in. I had to remove the nest to do that. It was all torn up anyway. I didn't catch him but I did catch the BB's. First Papa, and then the new female. Of course, I released them right away. After a while I removed the trap and replaced the nesting material. The new female finally went back in and made a new cup in the top of the nest. Looks like she's ready. I am going down to put the sparrow spooker on tonight, even tho I doubt it will be effective, since this male HOSP has already been inside the box. But just in case, I will do it. It's all I can do.

Here is the HOSP with the new female looking down. When he flew out she chased him. The BB's are willing and able to handle the HOSP in the open but not when trapped in the box, or even inside the cage-type mealworm feeder.