Newsgroups: rec.birds
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From: rmura@world.std.com (Ron Mura)
Subject: Re: Bluebird Comments
In-Reply-To: tfisher@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU's message of 18 Apr 91 15: 00:26 GMT
Message-ID: <RMURA.91Apr19204253@world.std.com>
Sender: rmura@world.std.com (Ron Mura)
Organization: The World
References: <1991Apr18.150026.18512@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU>
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 1991 01:42:53 GMT
Lines: 45

In article <1991Apr18.150026.18512@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU> tfisher@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU (Tom Fisher) writes:
> 
> We have a pair of nesting Bluebirds.  We also have many House
> Sparrows (Weaver Finches) around.  Both varieties compete for the
> same nesting places.  We spend a lot of time "helping" the
> Bluebirds by destroying the Sparrows nests.  However, my wife and
> I both work and therefore, we can't be around all the time.  Last
> year, I came home one day and found that the Sparrows had built a
> nest over the top of the Bluebird nest (and the Bluebird nest had
> eggs in it).  I got rid of the Sparrow nest and the Bluebirds
> came back seemingly unperturbed.  

I know what you're going through.  We had house sparrows attack tree
swallow young one year.  I ended up doing constant watching of the nest
and chasing the house sparrows away during daylight hours (5 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
for the few days until they fledged.  (Five made it but one whose wing was
damaged couldn't fly and eventually die.)

I think the best appoach is to destory the sparrow nests as they make
them.  They eventually quit and move on, at least for a while. 

I would never kill the sparrows; they're as much a part of nature as
the bluebirds and it's only through man's values that they become a
"problem."  I once caught a pair of house sparrows and
moved them to a park where there were many others four miles away,
which saved that year's brood, but it's a practice that is discouraged
by wildlife specialists.  I suppose if it got bad at a critical time
you could catch them and keep them in a temporary aviary until the
young fledge.  (This would be illegal, I believe, for all species 
except a few like house sparrow that were originally introduced from 
elsewhere.)

I don't think changing the hole size will help, and any such change might
cause the adults to abandon a nest they have already started.  

Another thing I've heard twice (but never confirmed) is that bluebirds
will nest in a box with cracks/openings in the top, while other birds
won't.  Of course, that might reduce the chances of success too.


-- 
- Ron Mura, Natick, Massachusetts              rmura@world.std.com



