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I use recordings on a random playlist (from an old android phone I have) a lot for all kinds of birds and it absolutely helps attract bluebirds. I keep other birds on it like phoebes and kingbirds that I think make bluebirds feel like it is a good place to check out and not be threatened. I feel like I hear the short one note call by bluebirds more so I play that a lot. I do wonder if it scares them away if playing continuously because i have attracted them for sure but they seem to move on from fleeting visits. I get tree swallows easily every year but bluebirds are tough to keep here. I also tried the mealworms but the starlings find them and clean me out. I do have a amall cage feeder that keeps them out for the most part but I only get Carolina wrens going in there. I plab to try in the fall again. My brother has a platform feeder that he has tons of bluebird activity on but he has less of a staring problem. Agree with van ert being essential. If anything I am really good at controlling HOSP. And it is making a significant impact finally. I use the ground cage trap in the off season and that is critical for trapping the influx of hosp flocks that come through.
Thanks! The pole idea is a good one but since this is a public park I would be pushing my luck to put a pole up in that space because the grounds crews would probably mowit over or remove it. I do have a contact but the crew might forget and remove it. Stinks! Any kind of baffle idea welcome.
Well I should have listened to Tammy. That baby got out again and died. No idea what happened to the other babies. I have a predator baffle up and the hole has an extra buffer. I can only assume a raccoon somehow snuck them out or a bird picked them out somehow . This year has been a dud. No bluebirds yet (other than a visit in early May and a total tree swallow nest failure. PA weather was probably a factor as June has been mostly miserable weather for tree swallows. Oh well next year.
Ok so i stuck my phone in to snap a photo and mites on my phone assuming that is what is bothering them!
Sparrow control sure does pay off when persistent! One thing I learned this year though is that female swallows can be just as blue as the male swallows! I had no idea. So what I thought was two males hanging around were actually a pair! Apparently this is common and generally is a female after the second year. She is sitting on her eggs now and my predator baffle is up!
Lol! I just sneak a long outdoor cord where I need them. However there are some really great solar powered fountains (the ones with a charging battery in them) available on amazon. if you have full sun they work great! I have a strange situation this uear with the tree swallows. A couple males that have clearly claimed my front yard boxes but no female. The one started making a nest but still haven’t seen a female. My neighbors seem intent on killing every last bug in our universe so I have slowly watched my monarch caterpillars and my toads disappear…used to breed and sing every year in my pond now gone completely. Worried about the swallows. They love my little pond and we are near a golf course but they probably spray that too!
