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Hahah I hear you on the brain fog! Just hit 50 and it is getting real lol. Yeah I am just outside northwest of Philly in a relatively dense suburb. Obviously not terribly cold like others here in the winter but this year was pretty frigid. I take big flower pots and stick a pump in the bottom —- on some of them I use a big plastic plate or big flowerpot tray for the top. I stick a hole through the middle for the spout and use a soldering gun to pole drain holes all over the tray. Sometimes I use different sprinkle heads in warmer weather. It’s a huge draw for warblers and sometimes orioles in the spring. Then I have a very small fish pond in the front yard. I actually had a wintering oriole one year stay around every day – maybe my coolest birding moment. Still struggling to get bluebirds in my years (they visit occasionally but not for long). I have fledged some tree swallows here and there though. They can’t resist the water.
I do heated fountains all over my yard in winter. Better than a feeder! One i do is a camouflage dog bowl. The rest i stick a bird bath de-icer and it does the job and keeps the pump from icing. They have some really inexpensive ones on amazon. I can’t seem to find the model I have.
Make sure to trap any sparrows even though things are going well. I lost a whole nets of fledglings the very day they were about to fly out. Like Tammy says it was unexpected and seemingly out of nowhere. I have lost adult bluebirdsa, chickadees and tree swallows to these vermin
Yeah i keep trapping all year long and the supply is endless. Almost seems pointless. Hoping it is having an impact for someone. I guess I did just enough to get my 3 baby swallows out the door safely
Mom of the year award for that single tres feeding 3 on her own and getting them out the door! Yeah sparrows have been really terrible this year. We somehow need an education campaign so people stop feeding them and letting them nest. My nearby trail nearby usually has a lot more nests but early on sparrow infestation scared a few off. I controlled the situation but it was a battle especially since it is public land that I can’t get to on a regular. I usually see bluebirds and occasionally get nesters but this year nothing.
This is the simple video I found very helpful
Really sad to see the destruction wrens have caused! All I can offer is that one of my tree swallow nestlings was killed by a wren early on so i put a makeshift wren guard up and it stayed away after that. All i did was take a thin piece of cardboard from a beercans case (relatively water resistant) and fold it over the front (screwed it to the top with a couple small scews) completely hiding the hole (idea from a video I found). The mom tres had to adjust her incoming flight a bit but she figured it out. Since then no sparrows or wren problems. I got 3 out of 5 babies out the door
Just reporting here I so far have been having success using a thin beer case cardboard flap hanging over the front after losing a TRES nestling to a wren. It does get tricky at dusk as the mom has trouble finding the entrance. I sometimes end up having to hold it open so she can fly in. During the daylight she has no problem.
Lovely! Congrats! Always amazing when they actually make it through the battles which us rare where I live.
Found a nestling 20 feet from the box. I think it is one of the swallows but not sure how that happened. I did see a wren in the yard earlier in the morning so suspect it was a wren..terrible birds!
Update…mom is still alone and feeding the babies. Hopefully she can keep up as they get bigger and more demanding!
I agree with Tammy. Van ert is a literal life saver. I have seen bideos where people set up cardboard house sparrow boxes just for easier trapping and temporary mounting. At minimum, by trapping you save your neighbors bluebirds and or their babies from getting killed. It is only a matter of time. I trap all year round and it made an impact allowing swallows to move into yard boxes that would otherwise be taken by the rat birds. Another trap is the ground cage trap you can bait with bread and crackers. I usually get a fee every week with that but tougher during the height of spring as they are more concerned with nesting. But trapping over the off season with the cage and van ert will make things easier in the spring and summer. Need any tips let me know.
