GrandmaBarb, Just loved the pretty little birdhouse and the fantastic garden pointer. How clever you are!! Barb sent me a sign that she had made from an old piece of weathered board on which she had painted the prettiest yellow flowers on the left of the board. On the right of the board she had glued little tiny pointed pinecones in the shape of an arrow with blue jewels along the sides showing the way to the garden. On both the birdhouse and garden sign she had painted Ellens Joy. I am so happy that you were my Secret Santa as you nailed my personality to a tee. Thanks for the time you spent on my gift during this busy time of year. I love it. Ellen

You removed a Chickadee nest?? Why on earth would you remove a Chickadee nest?? They are very low on the totem pole as far as successful nestings since they cannot fight off larger cavity nesters, plus they usually only have one brood per season so they need all the help they can get. I LOVE Dees! I have had them nesting here for the last three years and I would never never remove one of their nests!! I protect them as much as I could and if a Blue pair wanted the box that a Dee already had then I would put a hole reducer on the box so the Blues couldn't have it! I have tons of TRES that take all the boxes around here but I haven't removed any of their nests either, just keep hoping the Blues find an empty box and nest. The Blues around here are always the last to start nesting so they get what is left pretty much of the nestboxes. I have one pair of Blues, one pair of Dees and six pairs of TRES all nesting right now. Blues love mealworms but as far as getting them to stay in your yard and nest, there is no guarantee. The male finds the nesting sites but the female needs to approve of it. She makes the final pic. If she likes the nestbox she will stay...if they found something better elsewhere they will go there. Alot depends on the availability of nestboxes around your area. If they have lots to choose from they could go anywhere but if there aren't alot of spots for them to choose from then maybe they will choose your yard. However if you aren't prepared to let other native cavity nesters use the nestboxes you put up then you shouldn't be offering nestboxes. Oh and hopefully all your nestboxes are mounted on slick metal poles (conduit works best) with predator baffles and at least 15 feet away from trees or fences. Donna

Hi Konrad, Kinda sad to lose your RBNH nest... but this is nature at work I guess. Yes, we lost 1 bluebird egg to a HOWR 2 seasons ago. We saw him fly to and into the nest box, and come out with the pierced egg still impaled on his beak! We were waving our arms and shouting at him, as he dropped it on the ground and flew off. It all happened in 30 seconds or less. We discouraged him with a squirt gun for days and the parent blues dived bombed him mercilessly whenever he came near. He finally stopped coming around, and I'm happy to say the other 3 eggs hatched and fledged successfully. Hope your Nuthatches try again for you, Kenn Here is a link that might be useful: Latest Slideshow

I went over to our build site yesterday and I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the progress. I think I have to just get over it, though. :) They are drywalling and mudding and I really wanted it to ALL be done and it is not. I know this is time intensive, especially considering all my windows are drywall return, so I am trying to be grateful that what is done looks great but I wanted more. How selfish of me! On the bright side, it is amazing how much different the space looks at each step. Framed walls were amazing, I could feel the house taking shape. Insulated interior walls were fascinating, the immediate warmth and quietness they brought to the space, it was such a cozy, blanketed feeling. Now the drywall, and I could walk around and really use the space. It became so much easier to move to thinking about paint colors. I have to really work that list.