Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. I have decided to follow your advice and take the trip to Ireland if my daughter is still wanting to. To answer some of the comments. I do have a DRST and in the past have had a lot of luck with it later in the year. I have been using mixed bird seed as bait but seem to catch mostly house finches and song sparrows in it. Also, I have a squirrel that regularly cleans out the bait. This morning I tore up a couple of slices of white bread and sprinkled them around the trap. Hopefully that will get the HOSP interested. I have some popcorn that I will also try. I do have a dummy nest box. It has the screws for the Van Ert installed on the rear of the door and last year I caught about a dozen in it. Trouble is right now the blues are protecting that one too. A couple of weeks ago I bought and installed a slotted opening (Kentucky style) box and the blues seemed to like it a lot. I also bought an in-box camera but when I went to install it in the slotted box, I found the pitch of the roof was not steep enough and the camera was level with the opening. I was afraid the birds would bang into it when they entered so I replaced that box with one I had made that had a steeper roof and featured the more common 1 1/2 inch round opening. The camera worked fine and the blues seemed to cope with the design change. But then I decided ** to convert that box to the slotted style, so I removed the door, cut one of identical width and installed the new door, leaving the slot at the top. Again the birds seemed to have no problem handling the change. I still have the door with the round hole opening and can switch back in a matter of minutes if an unexpected complication arises. Right now the only thing I can see is that the steeper pitch of the roof brings the overhang down a bit more than the store bought slotted box did. The adult blues have no problem flying up and under the overhang but I wonder if it will be a problem for the nestlings when they fledge. Since 2005 I have had 55 babies fledge from my one box and every one has flown out and up to the trees (except one time when I had the box turned too much toward my house and two out of four flew up on the deck). But I wonder if this overhang might cause them to fly down on the grass. The HOSPs do seem curious about the box, whether the opening is round or slotted. It may be because it is so prominently placed. Right now they seem content to nest behind the shutters on my neighbor's house. I appologize to you Donna for such a lengthy post on your thread. But I have been itching to talk about my new boxes (and my HOSP concerns) and this seemed like a good place and time to do it. If anyone has walked down this path before and can forsee problems vis-a-vis the interchangable doors, or fledging problems with the overhang -- or anything else, I would welcome your comments/suggestions/advice. **I really hope to get a picture of two or more speckled heads peeking out at the same time on fledge day, but not at the expense of my birds. Dave

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

No, do not remove the nest unless you are 100% sure it is abandoned.Sometimes it takes at least a week before the female will begin to lay eggs.I would suggest wedging a small twig/grass/pine needle across the entrance of the nest box,but make sure it is small enough for a bluebird to move,If the grass/twig/pine needle is gone then you know they are still visiting the box.If they are still interested,you should see them around the nest box in the morning.keep a eye out for them during that time.

Agreed, we are still trapping and won't stop. They seem to be slowing down now, I'm not sure why. We don't catch nearly as many despite there still being quite a few around. Hope they are not getting smarter! I bought wood to try out this birdhouse last weekend and will let others know how it goes. http://md.fpemad.com/p2/mansion.htm This one is designed with the Eastern Bluebird in mind. I guess the theory behind the 2 hole mansion home is that they bluebirds feel safer and more confident in chasing off the HOSP if they have an escape route and are not trapped by HOSP in the house. Also, it turns out that purposing making the house smaller to repel HOSP isn't good for the bluebirds. They like a larger space. We had some around at about a month ago but they have since left it seems. I think they will keep nesting through June? Here's hoping I can get this built this weekend and put up. I have removed HOSP nests daily from our current house and 3-4 eggs in total. They just keep building!! So to answer my own OP....no the sparrows will NEVER give up. You must find a way to outsmart the little cretins! Will post on the 2 hole mansion.