I wish I knew which way the wind typically blows. I think I'm gonna have to move the wren house (argh!) and hope they haven't started building in it yet. I just put it up Thursday though. I'm gonna face it more to the southeast or east southeast. My house is about 10-15 feet away so that will help block any wind and rain that should come from that direction. I think the only time any bad weather comes from that direction is when there's remnants of a hurricane.

I tried several things like I made a brand new wren guard out of light cardboard so it was so obvious. I made it so I could tape back the front flap so she could see the hole...it looks like an extension of the roof. She STILL wouldn't go in. Daddy seemed a bit peeved with her. He'd go to the hole and move aside as if to make room for Mama to look in the hole with him there. There were lots of vocalizations between then. Again, she would go TO the hole but would not go in. The temps here have dropped from the 80s to the 60s so I guess I'm stuck. If she doesn't keep those eggs warm, there could be problems. I will be watching the video so I know when she goes out of the box. But I can't watch all day. Daddy Blue saw and chased the house wren several times so I guess we have to depend on him. As far as whether you have them, do you have a field guide? They have maps in there where you can see the range of birds. If you don't have one, I'll look it up in mine. Linda...

It seems really unusual that there would be House Wrens in southern Georgia during the summer. They are supposed to be winter residents there. The punctured eggs however lead me to think that it would have to be a HOWR. It is also weird that there were only two eggs punctured and they were all still in the box at first: from my own experience with HOWR attacks, they puncture ALL the eggs and drop them right outside the box. It may have been a HOWR that did everything, or it could have been a HOWR that punctured the eggs, and then something else may have eaten the eggs. According to a birding book that I own, House Wrens are "common in open woodlands, shrubs, farmlands, suburbs, gardens, and parks." It's really hard to pinpoint exactly what happened here. Make sure they get a predator baffle and a sparrow spooker on their box for the next time the Blues lay eggs. Wren guards are often ineffective after an attack has already occurred on a box. If you are going to put up a wren guard, I would suggest either relocating the house by atleast 100 feet, or rotating the box 90 degrees. There is a very simple design for a wren guard using the corner of a Cheese-It box which can be put up and taken off very quickly. Usually when one of our boxes gets attacked by HOWR, we never see or hear them... one minute the eggs are there, the next they are gone. They are very sneaky. Good luck. Ken

Hi Konrad, Kinda sad to lose your RBNH nest... but this is nature at work I guess. Yes, we lost 1 bluebird egg to a HOWR 2 seasons ago. We saw him fly to and into the nest box, and come out with the pierced egg still impaled on his beak! We were waving our arms and shouting at him, as he dropped it on the ground and flew off. It all happened in 30 seconds or less. We discouraged him with a squirt gun for days and the parent blues dived bombed him mercilessly whenever he came near. He finally stopped coming around, and I'm happy to say the other 3 eggs hatched and fledged successfully. Hope your Nuthatches try again for you, Kenn Here is a link that might be useful: Latest Slideshow