Absolutely a female HOSP. House Finches have striped breast. They DO occasionally use nestboxes. Other brown birds that use nestboxes include House Wrens (pointy beak) and occasionally Carolina Wrens (pointy beak.) See other brown birds link. Sometimes other brown birds temporarily perch on a nestbox but would not go inside. E.g., chipping sparrow, which has a chestnut cap and distinctive black eye stripe. I have heard VERY sad tales of people killing Black-capped chickaee (black bib) or shooting other song sparrows at feeders. It is, of course, important to be absolutely SURE of identity before taking ANY active control measures. Also important, of course, to check inbox traps hourly. Even tho this is a "live trap," A native bird trapped in a box for longer can die. House wrens will be out and about soon - already in Ohio. Here is a link that might be useful: other brown birds sometimes confused with HOSP

I was afraid that might be the case, they all look around the same size (martins) and info I found today said that the martins usually start to arrive here in February and look for nesting spots. In addition to All the other potential dangers/problems with the house/location where these martins are possibly planning to nest and raise babies, same neighbors also have a HAMM RADIO tower in their back yard and every year around late spring/ summer a great horned owl perches up there on and off and and hoots, I've heard him and seen him up there several nights in a row before. Is there anything I can do at this point, like put up a safe Martin house, or will they stay there now regardless? I'm hoping that if I talk to neighbors and explain the situation, they will do something about it. I feel sick at the thought of the martins going through whole process and end up losing babies or being harmed themselves. If I thought there was a possibility that they would relocate this late in the game, I'd gladly put up a safe place for them to nest and make sure it stays that wAy, although I'd be learning as I go, ughh, whole situation makes me nervous. I'm going to post the pics of the house and the birds tonight, I'm pretty sure the house is not the ideal layout either, it has little porches with metal railings on both floors and another railing across top and from what I've read so far, that makes it easy for owls to get to them. Thanks

Couldn't do the trap because my job has me gone for long time daily but I did shoot him with the BB gun, but to my surprise the blues are roosting on the house but I guess they needed to nest quickly so I have an old dead tree in my back yard and I saw them flying around it and to my surprise there is a hole so I got my flashlight and they built a nest in it and there are 3 eggs already.....I quess they just couldn't wait. I'm hope the second time around they will use the house since the sparrow is gone. But thank you for all your advise your right only way to get rid of the house sparrow is to kill it.

I have seen tree swallows try to physically fight off those nasty house sparrows -- one Tree Swallow had a grip (in flight) of the HS. But the valiant attempt was not enough and the house sparrows prevailed until I intervened and ousted them. That was years ago and I'm not sure but IIRC the swallows already had a clutch of eggs. House wrens will often successfully butt in and pile nesting material right on top of a Tree Swallows nest. Wrens usually prevail. I recently read some blogs about house wrens -- not flattering. They can be persistent and harmful to other nesting birds. I will try to locate that link. Unlike house sparrows, wrens are native to USA and you cannot tamper with active nests. However their 'phony' nest piles of twigs, are fair game. Some people put an reversed "L" shaped structure at the top of the nest box that helps prevent the entry hole from being seen and dissuades wrens from entering with twigs. Tree swallows are not bullies, in my experience, but wrens and house sparrows sure are.