Thank you!! I actually came across someone else who did that, and it looks easy and more attractive than the sparrow spooker. I sat out there all day on Friday, reading a book and watching my kids play. My husband was out there all day on Saturday and we haven't seen that male HOSP since Friday. My first baby hatched yesterday!!! I'm sure the rest have hatched today - it's been raining all day and I haven't gone out to check. I'll go put out some mealworms soon. I was afraid to mess with the box too much, I didn't want to disrupt the babies, so I'll have my husband fashion the fishing line as soon as they're all done. My husbands pellet gun came in the mail today, he's been target practicing all afternoon, he is looking forward to keeping my birds safe (in all actuality, playing with a pellet gun). Hmm, thumbtacks is easy, I just reread your post and the one I found was a little more in-depth. Thanks again!!! Here is a link that might be useful: The site with fishing line that I found....

I also advise not to clean out the box. It is illegal to remove eggs and nesting material btw. Are the sparrows still around? Maybe they are harassing the EABL pair and causing her to delay laying. This could also be the females first nest and she isnt playing by the rules. The weather can also delay egg laying if it is cold. Keep an eye on the situation the next few days an hopefully she continues to lay. You could pair another box to keep the HOSP distracted until she finishes laying. Once she has finished laying and starts incubating, I would put the sparrow spooker back on. Good luck and keep us posted!

put it up NOW!! i put the sparrow spooker up the day the first egg is laid. watch for her to enter the box to make sure it doesn't scare her but chances are, she won't give it a second thought.

Tim, I am so sorry this has happened. This is the third incidence this season that I have heard of a HOSP going in a nestbox with a spooker attached. I have no clue what the other spookers look liked but what does yours look like? Does it have the dowels that come over the roof of the box with streamers hanging down touching the roof of the nestbox all the way from the back to the front of the nestbox? Do you have two dowels coming out over it or just one? That is the only thing I can think of is that the spooker wasn't as scary as it should be. However....HOSP seem to be really bad this year all over the US. I am having way more of them interested in nestboxes than usual this year and so are many others. I am worried about a pair of TRES right now that haven't started laying eggs yet. A HOSP pair is hanging around them...this is at a park where I have a small trail. I have trapped five down there this Spring already.