A new bluebird thread

Another

How wonderful is that. Now both Blue birds and Chickadees! Dave, what's a dummy nest box? What purpose does it serve?

And another. I got literally hundreds but I won't bore you with all of them. Just two more.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2011 10:40 PM

One more Lily and I will explain... and then the bad news.

The dummy box is one I set up away from the box the bluebirds are using, in order to catch aggressive house sparrows. When a male house sparrow is trying to run the bluebirds out of their nest box, it will usually start by playing a game of cat and mouse with the male bluebird. It will perch on the roof of the box and the male bluebird will immediately chase him away. The HOSP will come right back and soon he will be peeking inside. At this point if not before, I set up the dummy box. "Dummy" because I never intended for any birds to nest in it. It is a NABS style box with an 1 1/2 inch hole, mounted on a steel rod with a foot like a shepherd's hook, so you can easily move it to any location you choose. The male HOSP will usually fly right to it and since it is located 75 feet or more away from the bluebird nest box, he usually can go inside without such strong objections from the bluebird. At this point I go down and install a VanErt trap and the next time he goes in, he is trapped inside the box, unhurt.

When the chickadees found the dummy box it was on the other side of the house, in the corner of our large daylily bed. No trap was installed, of course. I don't think the male bluebird even knew it was there, but he discovered it when he was searching for a new mate. I saw him peeking in. I went to get a hole reducer but I was too late. I found the nest torn up and what looked like the broken shells of at least two eggs, and one egg stuck to the nesting material. I believe the male bluebird probably did this. In any event, the chickadees have abandoned the nest and I have cleaned it out but the chickadees are gone. It made for a bad week for me, losing the bluebird female and the chickadee eggs.

Wow, how sad! Thanks Dave, for the explaination. How sad for nature is wild and sometime full of tragic. Too much loss in a week. Is it typical of Blue Birds to be so agressive to other species, or just because the male bird in distress, and acting out his agression?

Love your bluebirds, Dave. Is it at all possible that the new female could be one of his own offspring? So sorry about the female and babies to be, but glad he found a new mate so quickly.

Not sure why but they can get very carried away. They are very territorial when the are nesting and generally will not allow any other bluebirds within about 300 feet of their nest box, although when it comes to birds of other species, some bluebirds are more tolerant than others.

I once watched a male bluebird fighting with a house sparrow in the grass. The female bluebird (his mate) joined the fight and together they laid a real licking on the house sparrow. After about a minute, the sparrow got away. The male bluebird didn't seem to realize it was gone and began beating up on the female bluebird. After about 10 seconds she also escaped but he was visibly upset and didn't settle down for a half hour or so.

We think of them as pets and sometimes even give them pet names but still they are wild birds.

This message was edited Jun 10, 2011 9:43 PM

Possibly GP. According to Resin it happens a lot. I doubt she was one born in our nest box however, because she took three or four days to figure out how to get into the cage to get meal worms. But this male has only been here since June of last year, when the previous male was killed by a HOSP, and he well could have fathered others before he came here. There are lots of bluebirds in this community. I see lots of bird houses and I see many bluebirds flying about as I drive through the development.

Back to the bluebirds. Here is one from last week.

But this time the bird he was watching was bigger than a hawk.

Another shot from the same day.

Just a couple more

Last one for tonight.

Don't know how I missed this thread, but wow, lots of unwanted drama out there!

Still, looks like things are back on track. Glad to see them.

I try hard not to get pictures of my birds on feeders, but sometimes, it just happens. ;-)

Here he is taking meal worms back to the nest box to feed the female (who is sitting of five eggs). Not a very good shot, since his head is already out of focus. But I like the wings.

Another shot where he is about to take off

These next two are "formal" shots. (just messin' around with my editing software).

Here is the female with a little different mat and frame

I don't get to pop into the bird forum as much as I used to but I am just "eating up" the bluebird saga along with the fabulous photos. Have you ever given any thought to collecting the photos and stories in a book Dave? I would be lining up at the store (or actually Amazon these days lol) for a copy.

It seems like every spring the excitement of nesting birds also brings with it these little life and death dramas. I have had a nesting pair of bluebirds in a box in my front yard which I have been so excited about. Unfortunately I haven't seem them since the tornadoes went through a few days ago. I hope I am just missing them and that they will show up again.

I hope so too, lilyfan. Thanks for the comments.

Hurry back.

The male bluebird has become very protective, not only of the nest box, but also of the meal worm feeder. Here he crashes into a female house sparrow.

good for him

Hi Cuz, it's been awhile since I have been on this thread also.
I wrote quite some time ago about HS taking over our BB house that has been used by BB for many years. They fought and the HS won. We put up a dummy box about 10 feet away (maybe that was too close) and nothing happened. We also put up the Van Ert trap: We ended up catching the male by sneaking up behind the box, putting our hand over the opening, while the male HS was sitting on the eggs. Then, the female called another male within hours. We caught the female with the Van Ert trap. Then, the second male sparrow called another female. They have eggs in the nest box. And now, you are up to date with the HS saga at our house. It's been a very frustrating spring.
Meanwhile, I am happy to say, the BB found another nest box by our crepe myrtle, and they fledged this week. I would really like for the BB to take back their original house as it is easier to monitor. But, at least they did not leave my yard. I feed them meal worms every day and, of course, they love them. I am hoping they will bring the babies to feed at the meal worm feeder also. Usually, the last clutch is the only clutch I actually see the BB parents bring to the meal worm feeder.
If anyone has any more ideas for getting rid of the sparrows, let me know. Also, if I s/h done something different, let me know.

Hi birder17
I can remember you and vaguely remember suggesting the VanErt trap but I just went back through all the bluebird threads I have started, back to the Fall of 2009, and I can't find your specific questions and my specific answers. So let me start anew.

First, and most important, if by anything I said I gave you the impression you should allow house sparrows to actually nest in ANY box on your property, you have misunderstood me. Better to take all of your boxes down than to allow even one to reproduce there. Once that has happened they "own" that box and will return to your property to nest time after time. I do not have scientific proof but I also believe any house sparrow chick that fledges from that box will remember and return to it as well.

Remove the house sparrow nest and eggs ASAP! If the eggs have hatched, remove the nest and chicks anyway. When he tries to build again -- and he will-- then install the VanErt trap and catch them. Or, if you prefer, close that box (a piece of duct tape over the opening, for example) and have your dummy box ready as soon as the male house sparrow starts bringing nesting material to the box. Do not ever allow him to build a nest!! There is no peaceful coexistence here. To get rid of house sparrows, requires all out war!!

I am surprised you were able to catch the one female with the VanErt trap if there was nesting material in the box. The trap works on a spring mechanism that requires several inches of clearance and normally would be blocked by the nesting material. For this reason I do not use it when a house sparrow is trying to take over a box where the bluebirds have built a nest.

As you do this keep an eye out for your bluebirds, especially if they are nesting. The male house sparrow may become downright vindictive. I have heard reports of them visiting nearby bluebird boxes along trails and tearing up nests, breaking eggs, killing nestlings etc., when their nests have been cleaned out.

Congratulations of your successful bluebird nesting.

If you have further questions, I will try to answer them here or you can D-mail me if you prefer

Cuz, thanks for your prompt and informative reply. I am so glad you wrote. I have been telling my husband the same thing, and he keeps thinking he needs to "trap" them. After reading your post, he went straight out to the nest box, came up from the back, put his hand over the entrance, and caught the female nesting. So now, we still have the male HS to deal with who is the most difficult to catch. He has taken the nest out and set the trap. We have had BB for twenty years here, but the HS have shown up the last three years.

Cuz, I don't quite understand the concept of the dummy box. I need to do research about this. When we had the dummy nest up near the BB box, which is made to BB nest box specifications, the sparrows and BB checked it out but preferred the original. Did I have the dummy too close to the original? Is the purpose of the "dummy" box so you don't have to take the trap out all the time?

I think this is a good window of opportunity to destroy the nest. The BB have fledged.

Yes, I use my dummy box exclusively to trap. It is particularly useful when the HOSP try to take a box that the bluebirds have selected or are nesting. Most of the time the bluebirds will resist and often if there is another empty box available, the HOSP will take the path of least resistance. Since the dummy box never has nesting material in it, it is always available. The idea is to set the trap as soon as a HOSP starts taking nesting material to it. As I mentioned, when there is already nesting material in a box, the VanErt trap may not work. If the HOSP are trying to evict bluebirds that are already nesting, I would not use the VanErt on that box. If the HOSP have already taken over a bluebird nest or have built a nest of their own, I would remove the nesting material and use the VanErt trap as soon as the HOSP begins building again.

Where you place the dummy box should not matter very much. I have mine mounted on a pole that has a foot much like a shepherd's hook, so I can move it around as I want. I place it where I can see it from my window and maybe 75 feet from the bluebird nest box. Be sure not to set the trap if you are not going to be nearby to watch it, and when you open a box after the trap has sprung, be careful to see that it is a HOSP you have caught. Bluebirds are very curious about unoccupied boxes in their territory and I have caught mine more than once.


As you may have heard, the HOSP multiply much faster than the bluebirds. They usually have four nestings a year, compared to three for bluebirds. They tend to lay more eggs and they mature faster. It is not uncommon for a female born in the early Spring to mate the same year. As a result, they continually run out of places to nest and as the Summer wears on the male becomes more and more aggressive in his search for real estate. It is the male HOSP that looks for a site. It is the male HOSP that builds the nest and it is normally the male HOSP that kills. The female usually lends moral support. The male HOSP you will find, is very crafty and if he gets away from you, it will be very hard to trap him again.



This message was edited May 5, 2011 4:16 PM

This message was edited Jun 10, 2011 9:53 PM

Yes, we have had the experience of having an escaped crafty male last year. It took us a lot of the summer to finally get him.
My husband put the BB house back up with the nest gone. Within 20 minutes, we caught the male HOSP. Whew! It's been a frustrating spring. We would kill one partner, then, the surviving partner would call another. Now, our nest is empty and we have killed two pair of sparrows.
Maybe our BB will chose to nest in this box for their next clutch. Hopefully, we are finally rid of sparrows.
Thank you for the tips--it made the difference.

Beautiful day here today. Finally, no wind! (Our peonies are in their glory too.)

Another shot of the male

No matter how long I train them, sometimes they fly on the wrong side of the branch.

Wished they're more 'trainable' lol with you Dave. Gorgeous, gorgeous photos of the precious BBs.

They look pretty well trained to me Dave...and gorgeous too!

WOW, Dave....great shots as always. I haven't been on Dave's Garden in so long. :(

We've had a rocky start here also. Sometime over the winter, the male lost his mate. I had a loose group of 2 males and 3 females for most of the winter and his mate just disappeared one day back in February. One day, in March, they had all dispersed but the male that is always here and a new female. She is either very young and inexperienced or not as bright....I truly cannot tell. I have also noticed that she looks "grubby" and not as pretty as the other females that I have seen. She built a nest in late March and after a long 2 week period of looking in other boxes and basically fooling around, she began to lay eggs. She had a clutch of 4 but wasn't in the box very much. I peeked inside again after 4 days and there were only 2 eggs but they looked OK. I looked again in a few days because she was around in the yard but not going inside the box much and the 2 eggs had holes poked in them. I have not seen a single pest bird around so I am baffled. I removed the eggs but left the nest. The male keeps going over to the box, looking inside and wing waving and attempting to get her interested but she is not having any thing to do with that box. So, I have been putting out worms as I usually do and he is feeding her and putting on a typical spring display for her.
Not sure what is going on. They are here in the yard so much that I doubt that they have another nest going on elsewhere.
Any ideas??

I loved seeing all your photos Dave. I'd like my birds to fly the wrong way every time if I could get the beautiful photos that you do.

Thanks for all the nice comments folks. I have been sitting around more or less waiting for the bluebird eggs to hatch and put together this collage of birds recently in our yard. I realize this will display rather small on DG. I hope you can see them all.

I didn't like the writing on the goldfinch and pine siskin, so I moved them down a bit. Didn't have much room so hopefully this is better.

I love that collage! There are a couple birds I didn't recognized, the one below the Goldfinch to the left and one with its tail flicked up in front the Myrtle Warbler to the right of the collage? Beautiful display! I wouldn't mind having that hanging some where on my wall. Dream, dream, dream. lol.

Carolina wren and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. I am sure you would have recognized the wren if the picture were larger.