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Egg#1 was laid this morning! Mom and dad hanging around a lot more than normal. Actually dad dive bombed me checking one egg or I would have taken a picture. I think the HOWR and HOSP activity has them on guard. Putting the Sparrow Spooker up now.
Sparrow spooker – yes. I put mine up after all eggs are laid. Too nervous to put it up after 1 egg.
Wren guard – other than my pellet gun – no. (I shoot to scare not kill!)Definitely EABL. Spotted the female going in and out several times this evening and the male singing on the overhead wire. I’m just nervous about the HOWR now I have taken down the house they were trying to nest in. I hope they don’t try and take over the EABL box!
Good news! Heard Billy singing this morning. Checked the box and found several strands of grass so I believe a second nest is just beginning. I will monitor the box for HOSP activity but haven’t seen any since the last “massacre at dawn” (6 in the HOSP trap at once, mwah hah hah!!). I’m 99% sure it’s EABL’s building again but want a visual.
The commitment by the parents is way too strong for them to abandon fledglings. I would put it up ASAP and watch the box. Typically the female accepts first. I have used the spooker two years in a row and they took to it both times within 30 minutes. HOSP’s go nowhere near the box. It’s too big a risk to take. HOSP’s are nasty.
Today when I checked I realized that there are only 2 eggs. I thought the chick was covering one up – but there are only 2. I am theorizing that two hatched and a chick died and was removed (The box was unmonitored for 7 days as I was in Europe). The other two eggs are bad. We had some really cold weather when she first started laying so I wonder if the first two were infertile. Oh well, that’s Mother Nature! I do all I can to help them but some things we just can’t control.
Still only one fledgling and only two eggs present. The chick seems to be doing well and momma and pappa are very busy feeding him/her (too soon to tell the sex). Today I checked and both parents got a little agitated so I was very quick. I think I am just going to leave the other eggs (I am almost certain at this point they won’t hatch it’s Day 22. My hope is that this fledgling makes it, I clean out the box, and mom and dad have another brood ASAP.
You can’t go wrong with the repeating sparrow trap from sparrowtraps.net. I use this with great success. Put it on the ground and use millet. Put a little of the millet around the entrance and you WILL catch them. I had 9 males in Feb in one day. Then I simply issue them a blindfold, a cigarette and execute them at dawn.
Be SURE to check on a regular basis to release birds other than HOSP’s (I have even had BLJA’s in there – twice!!). It is the most effective way to capture the little buggers.
Thanks Fred!
I think the problem may have solved itself. Shortly after I posted this – the female EABL has been busily entering the Gilbertson with beaks full of grasses. Looks like she has made her choice. Even better I caught another HOSP in my Van Ert’s this time!This is extremely common. From what I have read it is more common in first/second year breeding pairs. It seems to be more territorial than anything. I have the same problem right now including a female EABL who seems to insist she wants to next in a DOWO box 15 feet up on a tree with a deep bottom!
