Well Tim, It's NEVER safe to assume! After I had posted here yesterday, I looked outside, and what do you think I saw? YEP! Another bull HOSP checking out my Titmouse box. YIKES!! I guess that female went off and brought another male here to nest! Well, I just went on out and hung my nice trap box in its place, complete with a piece of dried grass hanging from the hole! Didn't get him yesterday, but maybe I will today. I do have Sparrow Spookers and use them religiously once my Blues have laid the first egg. I did place them onto boxes early this year trying to deter this determined pair of HOSP's, and I watched them carry in their nesting materials with the Spooker right on the box. Didn't seem to bother them a bit. ~~Angie

I wish I had a DRST...but they are expensive. I don't have many HOSP that try to nest in our yard but there are tons around as there is a car dealership next door and they nest over there. They come to eat at my feeders when their nestlings fledge and I know at that time I could probably trap tons of them. There will be 30+ in the yard then. Ugh. However during the rest of the year there will only be a few coming through at a time. I did have a couple pairs interested in my nestboxes this year...got both of those males and about 4 others with the BB gun. One year there were fledglings around and one was sitting on a branch with the mother right behind it. I shot with the BB gun and got both with one BB! I always put up sparrow spookers as soon as the first egg is laid on the Blues boxes. Last year I lost two TRES nestlings to a HOSP, two more were pecked but made it and two were unharmed. I put up a spooker on that box and those four made it to fledging just fine. I don't normally put spookers up on the TRES boxes because there are just too many of them. I only have two spookers and usually have eleven nestboxes with TRES. Hate those dang HOSP.

Sorry to hear this Tim. If I were you I would remove the HOSP nest and hope the blues return. I doubt you will get the female HOSP now that the male has left. In my experience with TRES I see them highly motivated to run off any bird in paired boxes when they are nest building. Once they are laying/incubating and feeding nestlings they focus much more on that then defending the other box. I have lots of paired boxes and that is what I have found anyway. As far as the Blues letting the HOSP take over the box...well they know they cannot win I suppose, no eggs or nestlings to defend so it is hard to say. I think each bluebird is different too on how hard they defend things. This year I have a hugely territorial male, never had one like this before. He has chased off my chickadees and is trying to chase off all the Tree Swallows in the yard. He is defending four nestboxes, two of these are 65 yards or so from the box they have eggs in. Nothing will be nesting in the box paired 35 feet from the blues nestbox...he won't allow it. The chickadees weren't even house hunting, just trying to eat out of the birdfeeders and he won't allow it. A couple times I have seen a HOSP come to the feeder and I quickly try to get the bb gun but the Male bluebirds chases it away before I can even think about it. He won't stop chasing until it is out of the yard too. I am curious to see if he calms down a bit once the eggs hatch which should be next week. Good luck to you, hope your blues can get down to business now that that HOSP is gone. Donna

Glad the mom figured out the wren guard. I had a pair last year that couldn't figure it out, no egg the second day (checked at 11:00) so I took the guard back off and she went right in and laid the second egg. Luckily the box was fine without the wren guard though. If you want to get Starlings with a pellet gun, they love suet. I got around 30+ the last two weeks with the bb gun, I no longer go through a suet cake a day either now so when the woodpeckers come they don't get chased away anymore and they always find suet ready and waiting. Can't stand them dang Starlings. Donna