Last summer I did have one instance where a spooker failed. It was fledging day for a nest of 6 baby blues and I suppose the excitement surrounding the babies was stronger than the fear this particular male house sparrow had of the spooker. 5 of the babies fledged successfully but the 6th, a little female, was pecked and later died. The house sparrow did not live long after this and I was absolutely devastated by the loss of this little girl but was grateful that the other 5 survived--and no adults were lost. I use the spooker kits made by Uncle Blaine and find them to be extremely easy to install, plus they are very effective. In the 3 or so years I've been using them, this is the only instance where there has been failure. Since I monitor 35+ nestboxes, I add a kit or 2 to my stock each year though I don't routinely use them at the parks--I have enough instances of vandalism without drawing attention to the nestboxes! I use them faithfully on my school trail and here at the house. Kathy

Wow this sounds so much like what went on here. I put a bowl full of mealies out the day they fledge but none after that for awhile. I find they don't come for them much until the babies are ready to come with them. If this is your same female that means Dad was left to raise 5 kids and it may take a little longer with just one parent. My Pop showed up with the kids later than normal. He's always been nearly 2 weeks to the day and this time it was closer to 3. I have learned that NO, Blues do not always mate for life. There is no question this is Hussy Mom and that Pop got ditched with the babies. I have been feeling bad for Pop (but I guess more for myself). I hope I have not lost him, I know hes not too far, I hear him but still have not found his new nest. Pop has been here for 3 years that I know of. Something happened to his first female between first and second nesting last year and that's when he took up with Hussy Mom. I never would have know it was a different female untill she quit feeding the babies.(maybe the fisrt female took off on him too)? There was no question this years first nesting was Pop and Hussy Mom. The thing is I could never be certain I had the same pair each year, there was always a little something different about each nesting except for Pop, he's always been in the same branches and been consistant with his behavior. His red goes down much farther in the front also.I really hope that I will have both Hussy Mom & Joe Daddy AND Pop with his new female next year. I am looking at the bright side, I should have twice the Blues and after all more Blues is what this is all about! I hope your Dad shows up with the babies soon and as stated above, mealies have nothing to do with survival especially at this time of year!

Where are you? It is getting a little late in the season, not to say you couldn't still get a nesting. The females are the ones that make the final decision. Do you have 2 boxes, both with cams? I would take the cam out of one of them. It may help. I have had females that did not like the camera for some reason and some that could care less. Sorry I cant help with the Gilwood box.

There is definitely some calculus involved when determining what scale a renovation is, that involves both price and taste/finish. I think a middle-of-the-road renovation generally is around 10-15% of home value. But this frequently is retail cost, factoring in contracting labor, etc. Had I paid retail all along, my renovation would not be taking so long (coming on 2 years, thanks to interruptions for school), but would also be completely unobtainable for me on a students budget. Retail price for what I've done so far would be well over $60k. I've spent about $8k, through careful combing of craiglist and auctions, and free labor (dad). What I've gotten for my $5k* is amazing, however: SubZero 611 (craigslist, owner was upgrading to a Liebherr) SubZero 700BR (craigslist, never used) Gaggenau EB270 (craigslist, barely used) 30" Black Kohler Gilford sink (craigslist, display sale) 40sf of countertop slabs (bankruptcy auction) cork floating floor (craigslist, GC overage from a large job) 18 solid wood kitchen cabinets (friend upgraded her kitchen to Poggenpohl) steel spiral staircase (craigslist), going to the work/sleep loft we built over to the kitchen. *What about that remaining 3k, you ask? That went to a retail-priced 30" Bertazzoni Pro all-gas stove. Craigslist failed to deliver on a stove. There are some consolations- I absolutely love the range, and Bertazzoni had/has a free range hood promotion going on. So while I was never going to buy a $1200 range hood, I'm happy to get one for free. I did cry a little before spending full price on that stove, and a lot of it has to do with the calculus of middle-of-the-road and high-end. I'd talked myself into being reasonable, and just buying a perfectly fine mid-range GE. (Which was still going to be over $1k.) But the fact remained that the GE would stick out like a sore thumb in the kitchen I was constructing. And since craigslist was not coughing up a $500 Viking or Wolf, I finally accepted that I needed to pony up for a good-looking stove, and the Berta hit the sweet spot of no electronics, pretty, and reasonable (for a designer stove) cost. Being your own contractor is not easy, and craigslist is a minefield-- but even in it's half-assembled state, I'm completely in love with my kitchen now. (Possibly tinged with lingering gratefulness over the little things, like having a working sink to wash dishes in, or a stove that doesn't leak gas.)