People say it does well on dandelions, but I don't have many, and they're the least of my worries, so I can't tell you there. It's doing well for me on narrowleaf plantain (in high enough doses, anyway), and some creeping stuff that I think is yellow hawkweed. It doesn't seem to do a thing to creeping charlie. I suppose I should also say that I live in the city, with a relatively small yard, so I have the luxury of spot-spraying problem areas, so the specific weeds get a lot of my attention. I don't know how it might do in a more general spraying sort of situation. I'm happy that it's doing well on these more pedestrian lawn weeds, but the black swallow wort is by far the nastiest of the lot, and I really want it gone.

It sound like you have a great area to set up blubird boxes. You are correc the horses will destroy the boxes. If it is a fenced area, I would recommend that you place the bluebird boxes on the other side of the fencing, out of reach of the horses. Just insure that the house is about 6 -8' off the ground and is placed so that the birds have easy access to the box across the field or pasture. Bluebirds like a nice clear approach to their nesting site across a field. Good luck and thanks for helping with bluebird recovery. You should let us know your location. Here in the Northeast we are lucky when we site bluebirds holding over in the winter. It just makes me think of spring. Greg and Kate Watkevich

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

I went out today to check the TRES house to see if another egg had been laid. As I stood next to the house, I could hear the Mother flitting about inside. So I knocked on the side of the house to see if she would fly out. She stuck her head out and looked right, then left where I was standing. She staired at me for maybe 30 seconds (as if to say, "yes, may I help you"). She disapeared back inside. Again I knocked. She stuck her head back out and looked straight at me for another 20 to 30 seconds. She went back in, so I opened the box and looked in with my mirror. She was hunkered down on those eggs and nothing I could do was going to pry her off. She had some real moxie, some real chutzpah. I closed the box and walked back to the house. I am still smiling and laugh out loud every time I picture this in my mind. Can you imagine the nerves of steele it took for this little bird to protect her eggs from this big hulking monster (me) looking at her and her eggs. What an inspiration and life lesson these little birds can teach us. Phil