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Judy, I usually wait until the third egg is laid before I put up the wren guard. I did not use the guard on my first batch this year because I have not seen many wrens around. That could be due to some shrub and tree clearing that my neighbor and I have been doing in the wooded area behind our houses and the nest box. I will update this when round 2 begins.
David
Stafford, VAYes you should try. The guard is not hard to make. There are directions in the “stickies” on the Forum Index page. I made mine out of a cereal box and covered it with duct tape. Works fine even in wet weather. Easy to remake if it starts to get soggy and seems to keep the wrens away. It will at least give the BBs a chance. If the wrens have not been in the box this season the guard should deter them. Good luck
David
Stafford, VACountrygirl, that wasn’t me. I came here from “Dave’s Garden” after this forum started. I really enjoy posting the photos – although as I said before, they all seem to look the same from year to year.
David
Stafford, VAHere he is again with another meal this afternoon. They have found a good source of these grubs somewhere
David
Stafford, VAI saw both parent birds sitting on the shepherd’s hook this morning (early – sun just coming up) and I tried to get a photo of both but missed it. Got the remaining bird on the hook with a grub in its beak. Look at the size of that meal! (I adjusted the photo to get the bird to stand out with the darker background. Not a lot of sun out there at 7:30 AM
David
Stafford, VATook a look at the nestbox this morning to see the progress of the little ones. Here they are at day 8. The dad bird was on the shepherds hook about 20 feet away as i was walking around the box to check on my flower garden. As i was turning my back to him, he swooped into the box with food for the brood. I am not sure if that is a sign that he no longer sees me as a threat, but it is the first time I have been that close without him bolting off to a tree.
David
Stafford, VADeb and Dana, the weather has not been good to the birds this year. Have you driven around your neighborhoods and towns to see if there is activity elsewhere. I haven’t seen as many birds around my part of North Stafford but several new housing developments have gone up in areas south of me that used to be covered with timber. I blame some of the decrease bird activity on these housing areas. My daughter lives in one of these areas about 8 miles away and I see many EABL, TRES, Goldfinches, cardinal and other birds like I used to have there. I have not seen any nestboxes though. I don’t know if they have HOA restrictions that prevent their use.
I hope that you will see more activity as we get further into the late spring and early summer. You might be able to salvage a couple of nestings.
Good luck
David
Stafford, VAThanks Carol. I don’t have that much space but can locate it around 50 to 60 feet away. I do have a shepherds hook plant hanger that I set up as a perch for them about 30 feet from the box. Both of them sit there as they alternate feeding chores now. I was thinking about putting the feeder behind the hook and away from my deck where it is between their “watching” location and hook. I wikk see how it goes.
David
Stafford, VAGood news from both of you, Carol and Judy.
– Judy – it is good to see that your active “mitigation” of HOSP activity is paying off for you. I know that it is a bit more work than just caring for the bluebirds and tree swallows, but it is worth it to see them thrive without bother from the HOSP.
– Carol, it was worth this visit to the forum to see your note about the 2fer trapping. That is the first time that I have heard of anyone getting 2 in a single box. Congratulations.David
Stafford, VA
