Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Great news Carol. It is good to hear of your HOSP trapping also. Keep up the good work
David
Stafford, VAConnie, your photo did not come up. If you like, you could send it to me via email at dengle 912 dot gmail dot com (all run together like an email address) and I I will post it for you.
David
Stafford, VATroy. Sorry, your last post came up as I was typing my previous post. So some of it may not apply as you have a year of experience. That 1 sparrow can do a great deal of damage. The house sparrow warrants aggressive control. It sounds like a house sparrow. Check to be sure that it is a House sparrow and not a wren. Wrens can also give bluebirds a hard time, primarily on nesting sites and building nests over one under construction.
Other native sparrows do not seem to bother the Bluebirds.
BTW – where are you in Southern New Hampshire. I used to live in Windham, near Derry.
David
Stafford, VATroy, good to have you aboard. As the others have said, a very good, useable and understandable resource is the www,sailis.org website. It will help you to identify the house sparrow which is very dangerous for the bluebirds. They are not an native species to the US and may be eradicated as necessary if they become a threat your birds. Read some of the posts of some of those that have trapped this menace.
Here is a photo of my nestbox on a 5 & 1/2′ PCV pipe sealed in a concrete footer block. The baffle is a 6 x 24″ stove pipe that wobbles on 2 screws in the pipe. I put 1/4″ hardware cloth snake trap inside the baffle. It is away from the trees in back of it and on the sides so critters and wrens do not drop on it from above.
There are a lot of good people here that have made a great start on the season. I know that there are at least 9 and possibly 12 or more nest totaling more then 45 eggs thus far this season. Keep us posted on your progress. One suggestion, find a good nestbox for your bluebirds, not a decorative one like you find in many department stores. The Audubon Society and the North American Bluebird Society have lots of information on properly constructed bluebird houses. Make sure that you have a predator guard on the nestbox opening.
The results are something like this:
5 eggs in incubation
Do not hesitate to ask a question. We are glad to help.
David
Stafford, VACarol, I made a 4-sided (2 sides, back and top) from 1/2″ Styrofoam that I had from shipping boxes. I glued the sides together, then covered those sides with pieces of cardboard. I had measured he foam pieces very carefully to get a good tight fit. I used a couple dabs of Elmer’s glue to attach it to the nest box. The glue is water soluble and washed right off after I took the foam down. No photos of this one.
David
Stafford, VACarol, I found the post. It was Gin (Moderator in Atlanta) that had the 5 eggs in her first nesting in April of 2019. We never saw any photos but they must have fledged okay as there were no other post following that announcement.
David
Stafford, VAMatt, a goldfinch egg is white and about the size of a bluebird egg. That said, I have never seen a goldfinch go near the bluebird nest box. Do you have a tree or large shrub nearby where the finches might have a nest? The only alien egg that I have ever found in my bluebird’s nest was a cowbird. I read that they only lay their eggs in other birds nests. But the cowbird egg is about the size of a bluebird egg and is brown with dark spots all around. (They are also very hard to handle when you try to move them from the nest
) I believe we had someone on the forum last year or the year before that had a nest of white bluebird eggs. Maybe Carol might remember.David
Stafford, VACongratulations Matt and welcome to the forum. This is the first photo that I have seen with 6 bluebird eggs. My 5 just started incubation today. I am going to add you to my spreadsheet for nesting totals. Where are you located? Be sure to keep us posted on your progress and let us know if you have any questions or thoughts about the bluebird activity here. There are a lot of good people here a lot of knowledge to share.
David
Stafford, VACarol is right about the deterrence they offer to climbing predators. This is the one that I have for my nestbox. It is a 24″ x 6″ metal stove pipe mounted about 4 & 1/2′ above the ground. The pipe is 1 & 1/2″ PVC and I cut a hole in the top of the stove pipe cap to fit over to top. I also included a snake trap at the top of the stove pipe made out of several layers 1/4″ hardware cloth with smaller bits of that wire with the metal wires bent down to stab an intruder. A also grease the pole with lithium grease to keep ants and other creatures away. The baffle wobbles on two 2 1/2″ screws.
David
Stafford, VA
It is still cool here in Virginia but seems to be warming up in the next few weeks. Does imjur have an option to send your “code” via email or landline telephone call?
