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.

I have another box that is empty and one more that has tres. in it. The female blue is building so fast, I think she will have her nest done today. I put a spooker in the tres box because I had a male hosp. trapped in another box and I can't get him out myself...I have to have my husband help me. The damn female hosp. found a new mate in 10 minutes and went after the tres. nest box so I HAD to put a spooker up. It kept the sparrows away. When my husband got home I took care of the hosp and now there is an empty box. I think the dang wrens are after that box. The blues booted them from the one they have now. I don't care if the hosp. and wrens fight over a box. Hopefully she will lay an egg soon so I can get the spooker up.

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

Tim! You can fashion a spooker out of the skinny wooden dowels at the hardware store, you'll need cable ties or duct tape to put them into the "T" position and then duct tape the mylar streamers. If your boxes are wooden you can screw in two little eye hooks or something to the back of the box then cable tie the dowel to the box. If you make them like that you'll have spookers for every box and you only have to keep buying the mylar banners from the dollar store. Like Nicknack said they need to come down right after fledging so these b******s don't become tolerant. Cable tie or duct tape something to the tres box temporarily till you get situated. Right know my spookers are all gunked together due to the rain which makes me real paranoid. Yesterday I ran down my driveway in the rain like a wild beast 'cause I swore there was hosp intrusion at a box but it was just tres relatives going in the box causing a ruckus. I'll relax when the wind dries out the streamers and they unfurl. Good luck Tim, Sue