That's cool Ray! I am a serious Purple Martin landlord wannabe! This will actually be my 4th season trying to establish, and I have learned so much over that time. The first 2 seasons, my pole was not in an optimal location, and so I moved it a few feet to a better location last year. Had LOTS of visitors last year, and am hoping that some of them will come back to me this year. I am offering 6 Troyer vertical gourds right now to start. Originally offered a house and some gourds, but found that the house only attracted the HOSP's in. I think that Martins in my area prefer gourds anyway. I have lots of Purple Martin landlord friends and some who live nearby to me fill their 80+ gourds each season. They are so much fun to observe!~~Angie

Hi Gail, I very much enjoyed reading the story about the Bluebirds and your trail. Spring is SO sweet (especially after a winter like we've had this year) and having such lovely birds to share your life makes it all the sweeter! I don't have any nestboxes (my lot is open woodland and kind of brushy), but for 3 winters now the Bluebirds have come to eat the home-made suet mixture on the suet log. Except during the harshest weather, I have daily visits from these beautiful, friendly birds. They have become accustomed to my presence to the point where I can sometimes stand about 10 feet away from the feeders and watch them, talk to them, or snap a few pictures. They cheer me up during the winter. Once the weather warms up and there are plenty of insects, I don't see them on the feeders any more. Only occasionally, grabbing an insect in the garden, or on a bird bath.

Cathy, YES! They call me for advice also but they don't take it. However, my neighbor and I went to Wild Birds Unlimited yesterday and she bought baffles for both her houses - great news! But I cannot believe the Audubon Society is letting HOSP'S nest in their boxes. That would really upset me also, and I have to say, I would probably end up going off on someone who lets HOSP's nest in the boxes - just shocking it's the Audubon Society, causing more damage to the bluebirds than helping them. Kendra, conservation, huh?!? Wow. I AM glad to hear that at least some people in your area have proper baffles, but can't believe the conservation people don't. Linda, I understand you having a harsh opinion, I can relate! Ignorance, I can (somewhat) understand - I just try and educate in that case, not that they will listen - but I have to at least try. However, once they are aware of what WILL happen and still do nothing, I have no patience for the stupid and lazy. I tend to take it personally also, knowing that it may be the blues I worked so hard to fledge that may be "murdered" because the landlords just don't care, like you said. Thanks ladies for your input.

Many wild bird eggs are blue. The most common ones we see are probably robins or bluebirds. But if you flip through the pages on this web site, http://www.wildbirds.org/info/eggs.htm you will see a wide variety of eggs of many colors. Sometimes a broken empty egg shell is the result of a competitor, such as the House Wren, who quickly steals an egg from a nest by piercing it with his beak, taking the egg and dropping it some distance away. Ants will then clean out the egg contents. Brown Headed Cowbirds are parasitic; they will remove a host egg and lay one of their own for the host to raise, often growing faster and eating more than the host's young. Cuckoos and maybe some other birds also do that. Sometimes the parent bird takes the eggshells away as their young hatch, and sometimes they eat the shells, providing additional calcium in their diet. But, knowing that that there are bluebird trails a few miles from your house, it is likely that bluebirds do nest nearby. A few miles is nothing to a bird, considering the distance some of them migrate. As for size, Bet's web site provides a comparison with bluebird and robin eggs here: http://www.sialis.org/nests.htm BlueBars