No Vacancy

Um, pretty sure they’re doing it wrong -

It’s not hide-and-go-seek!

Bag It!

I'm trying a different approach this spring to discourage and run off the dreaded house sparrows...

Instead of stuffing the hole with a plastic bag, as I've done in the past, I opted to cover the entire bird house with the plastic bag.  This allows me to tie the bag nice and snug. Stuffing the bag in the hole works too but the sparrows pull and tug on it trying to get in and often times pulled it out but NO more with this approach.  Also, they don't seem to know what it is or like the bag and therefore they're no longer perching on the roof and hanging around.  This seems to have chased them off, HORRAY!

The sparrow claiming these two bird houses as their own end up chasing off the Bluebirds.  Yes, now no birds can take up residence in them today but I will remove the bags in a couple weeks and monitor to see who comes poking around.  Fingers crossed it'll be the Bluebirds.  The Bluebird is one of my favorite birds, hands down - there is NO comparison.  Sparrows on the other hand, well I despise them and would prefer they NOT be here at all and the last thing I want is them nesting in these boxes and raising more.

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String Them Along

I'm trying some new with my two bird houses this spring, see below.

There is always a battle between my beloved Eastern Bluebirds and the dreaded, annoying Sparrow to determine who gets to claim these bird houses as home.

What I've been doing, which is so counter productive, is I block the holes.  However, I only do this when the sparrow have taken over but inevitably it also prevents the bluebirds from moving in too.

I recently read on one of the social media apps that hanging string like I've done below wards off sparrow and most birds, as they flap their wings as they approach and enter the hole.  However, bluebirds do not, rather they swoop in with their wings closed.

Remember you can't believe everything you read on social media, so we'll see if there's any validity to this approach.  I'm not sure if I've installed the string properly but I'll keep a close eye and adjust if I need to.  At the end of the day, if this approach deters the sparrow I'll consider it a win.  I loath those god awful, noise and messy birds, GRRR!

As Good As New, Well Almost

I had to do some repairs on my farm gate.

The post on the left side in the first pic, the one with the bird house mounted to it, broke off at the ground during a windstorm we had back in the fall.

I finally repaired it a couple of weekends ago.

I had to dig out and remove the broken end piece first and fortunately, I was able to reuse the original post and hole.  You can see the post is now noticeably shorter but is solid and works!

I took the opportunity to clean and repair the old bird house before I remounted it but on the other post.

It didn't take long before a couple of wrens moved into the top nest and staked their claim!

Plastic Bad

This is why we must do away with plastic!

Seems that this plastic market bag, ironically, blew into and blocked the opening to one of our bird houses and completely block the hole.  Unfortunately, the House Sparrows that had taken up residence, unwantedly and who refused to take the hint, are the ones who lost.

On a happier note, our other similar bird house along the same fence line is home to a thriving Bluebird family again this spring!

Spring (Bird House) Cleaning!

Finally finished cleaning out the old bird house we having hanging.

As you can see this one was quite full!  Several years of chick rearing in there with the last several years, and multiple clutches each year, a wren called this bird house home.  Hoping they return and approve of the cleaned up residence!

Roof Repair

Looks like the roof repair, or rather roof replacement, I did on one of our bird houses is holding up nicely.  Seems the Thompson water seal I coated it with is doing it's job too.

Hoping the Blue Birds return this spring, approve and decide to stay for another season!