I, like others, am seeing less HOSP too. However, in the last two days, this has changed. I've had THREE nest attempts in the SAME box by HOSP! THREE different Males! I trapped two via my Van Ert, trimmed their wings, and put them in my DRST. Today I came home to a BIG surprise! Two HOSP decided to join in! I now have 4 HOSP in my DRST! I've only had the trap about a month or a little over. At my other trail site, I trapped 2 female BLUEBIRDS! Let them both go. One I COULD HAVE SWORN was a HOSP. Both birds flew out into my mesh bag, where I I'Ded them as Female bluebirds. There are 2 boxes there. There WAS a male HOSP claiming one. I came to realize that there are TWO PAIRS at this one site! Weather doesn't affect HOSP the way it seems to with Bluebirds. However, here in Ohio, there's plenty blues. Drive down any country road and you'll find one perched atop the power lines.

Good luck with the HOSP's. I have taken 15 so far this year. I was using an elevator trap past years, works great but catches everything from chipmunks to native birds. It is invaluable to catch juvenile HOSP's however. I've now switched to a Crosman .177 pellet gun. It works and surprisingly, the HOSP's must know they are the target. I hardly get them anymore. I get every other native bird at my feeders, but HOSP's which pollute our neighborhood rarely land in our yard. They fly in and around, but I haven't taken a bird since February this year.

Thanks again Kendra, Sue, etc. I REALLY want to put the DRST back out but I'm worried there won't be a good enough place where it'll be hidden, and not attract predators like Hawks and Raccoons which could get my bluebirds. I heard HOSP nestlings on this woman's property. They nest in her pine trees. I have 3 properties under control from HOSP. This is the ONE area they are coming from. Her husband suggested if I do it, to do it away from them. Oh the irony!! That's where the HOSP are coming from to begin with! Guess you can't win em all. Luckily they sold the alpacas they had...one time before they said there were birds in there, sparrows, but they didn't stop them I don't believe. So they were probably multiplying more back then. The barns they were in have been closed since last fall. Previously there were HOSP and Starlings in them. So, really, how vulnerable are juvenile HOSP to the DRST?! Does anyone think I'd have a good chance of trapping them after fledging? Unfortunately I can't rip their nests from the trees like I do with the other neighbor's. The 3 plots are the one I rent, the landlords' where my bluebirds are, and the 3rd is where the martin housing is. adjacent is her property. Confusing, I know. Try to be vigilant with this youngster ^^

Usually it is owls that will decapitate birds and other animals. The males this time of year will use the heads of prey to entice the affections of a female; they breed early. A Great-Horned Owl will very easily capture and decapitate a hawk, especially if said hawk has come back to a nest they may have used previously and found it inhabited by an owl. The owl will defend that nest (remember, they begin courting and breeding very early in the season, in some cases starting in late December) from what it believes to be an intruder (the hawk) .....smaller owl species might also decapitate smaller birds, but grackles are certainly possible culprits as well :)