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#1 |
Grub
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Twin Cities, MN
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We had 8 eggs, one for sure didn't hatch and I removed it. I only see 6 chicks here, so either another didn't hatch or the 7th chick isn't visible. I help out the parents by putting mealworms/waxworms out twice a day.
We live in prime house wren habitat, so immediately after the first egg is laid, I make a simple wren guard and that seems to work well. It's very easy to make one, I put together some instructions here: Wren Guard Photo Gallery by Liz Stanley at pbase.com |
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#2 |
Alternate POM Judge
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Maryland
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That's a lot of babies. Good to know how to make a wren guard if needed. I am really struggling with house sparrows here. I had to block all my bird houses because of them.
__________________
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. Aristotle |
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#3 |
Grub
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Twin Cities, MN
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If you put a hole reducer on, then the house sparrows won't be able to get into a chickadee nest. For bluebirds, the options are a) close the boxes, b) try a sparrow spooker, or c) eliminate the invasive species.
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#4 | |
Great Horned Owl
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Northeastern MA
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I'd love to see a disease wipe out the species here in the states, but I can no longer destroy them individually without a noteworthy result.... ![]()
__________________
"Know thyself." Oracle at Delphi |
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#5 |
Grub
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Twin Cities, MN
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Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm fortunate that I haven't had any major problems with them. A couple of winters ago I trapped about 2 dozen, and I still occasionally see one, but not that often.
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#6 |
Curious George & UAOKA recipient
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
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Maybe because I live out in the woods, I have never had a problem with house sparrows in my bird houses. I have had chickadees and nuthatches fledge, a one really stupid tufted titmouse who nested in my eastern screech owl box who had noticeably less success. No bluebirds, though - I have seen them checking out my boxes, but never nesting, though they overwinter at my feeders. I think I am too wooded for them.
I have had a problem with wasps setting up shop in my bird houses, paper wasps, bumblebees and mud daubers. Any ideas on how to discourage them? I like bumblebees, but not in my bird boxes, likewise the wasps are welcome but not in these locations.
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There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, this is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar. - Lord Byron Turttle's pollinator garden |
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#7 | |
Great Horned Owl
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Northeastern MA
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__________________
"Know thyself." Oracle at Delphi |
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#8 |
Grub
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Twin Cities, MN
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Most bumblebees, like most native bee species, nest in the ground. There are others like mason bees that are cavity nesters.
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#9 | |
Great Horned Owl
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Northeastern MA
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In later years, after my neighbor put up community bird houses that attract many, many house sparrows, I pulled all of the houses down and stored them away (not without a fight with them first), and now I look back on that day as a missed opportunity to observe the moments of bees, knowing exactly where this colony lived... I know that yellow jackets also live both in the ground and in cavities. They seem to choose whatever is most convenient and available to them.
__________________
"Know thyself." Oracle at Delphi |
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Tags |
backyard, chickadee, nest |
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