Thanks for the advice :) I have read that website, most of it - it has a lot of info. I did read a paragraph that said: MYTH: Bluebirds behave the same way, all the time, everywhere. REALITY: Eastern, Mountain, and Western Bluebirds in different areas behave differently and show different preferences. Even the same birds may behave differently as they age; as seasons, climate, and conditions change; and from one year to the next. Some people who aren't following any of the "rules" still successfully fledge amazing numbers of bluebirds year after year. Avoid "never" and "always" and do whatever works in your area! This made me a little more confident in this nest box. Even though have not seen a single HOSP, I will certainly cut off the perches if need be. And I will not host the Starlings, if need be take the whole thing down. Who knows, I could be as successful as the woodworker down the road!! For cleaning, he recommended taking a hanger and yanking out the old nests, and I will pull it down and rinse it out with a bleach solution at the end of the year. If others (besides Starlings and HOSP) take up residence I will most likely buy the more recommended house to put up in another location. While this one is pretty, I would rather a lighter and easier manageable house to take care of!!! Unfortunately I can't just return this one, so hopefully it will work :) Thanks again for your advice!! Christy :)

Hi Pam and anyone else interested, After my last posting, we had a very high wind come up for about an hour. It blew some branches and clumps of leaves down all around our area, but no rain. It also blew down a large piece of wood that may have frightened the baby, but for whatever reason, the little bird went back under the fence to outside of our yard, and the parents seemed to keep him there this time. In fact, he quite moved on from being squenched up next to the fence, and I could not see him any more with a quick check, but I did hear him answering his mother, and the parents kept coming back and were in different trees to watch after him. They were actually in the trees they perched in to watch their original bluebird home, about 10 feet closer to the front of the house than they had been through this ordeal in our fenced back yard. This morning when I got up, the bluebird parents were not there nor was he. The parents did come back a couple of times when I was outside and did not seem distressed. They did not seem to be calling to him at all. I didn't hear them sing or call any at all. The trees they were sitting in as I mentioned before were closer to the front of my yard and I cannot see the birds from my back deck with binoculars like I could when they were looking after him in the shed. I didn't want to stay too close to see and frighten him into running again, so I missed seeing if they were going down and feeding him, if they had encouraged him to fly and if he did, or anything at all. All I know is that by about 10:00 a.m. when I went around to sit on my little concrete bench which is about 15 feet from the bluebird house, the mom and dad sat in the tree there where they always looked after their home like they were communing with me. Lol. I did hear what I know was some kind of baby bird high in the trees in my neighbor's yard right next to this area. Since I have not heard a baby bird calling from that area throughout this weekend, I'm just going to believe that it was him and that he was able to fly and get up there with his parents calling him at some time that I didn't see. He could almost fly the day before, so I'm hoping that they get him moved down the block to the little field where they moved and where his siblings are. I hope they bring all their babies back to see me some day the way another bluebird family did a couple of years ago. I'll try to let you know if I see all 5 of the babies some time, but there are lots of bluebirds around here, so it may be hard to tell. Last week, there was a whole family of about 7 bluebirds on my roof for about 30 minutes. Karen

Sunday update: My box still just has an empty nest. I wonder if it's a dummy nest????? Only saw the sparrow once today, but the wrens were around once too. Ugh. Wish the bluebirds would nest in my box, but at least both male and female are coming to my yard to eat mealworms. My neighbor's box had one egg in it today! Being that they are out of town, I am monitoring their box. We put up a baffle (metal stovepipe) and made and installed a sparrow spooker today. It is quite the spooker too! We actually bought fringed mylar and stapled it to the dowels after priming and painting them so they will hold up in the weather. We made three spookers, hoping I will need one and made one for another neighbor too. Question: Is there anything we can do to keep the wrens away?

You have some perfect habitat for bluebirds! Like the others said...please get baffles on these asap...stovepipe are the easiest to install. It is much easier to install on round poles vs fence post like this though as they need to wobble. What is the distance from the hole to the floor of the nestbox? I know it is hard to tell in photos....hoepfully it is at least 6" to prevent a bird like a starling from poking its head in and grabbing a nestling or egg out. Also..did you put kerfs on the insside of the front of the nestboxes for Tree Swallows if they nest there? Blues don't need to have them but Tree Swallows really do. Make sure also that they are facing away from prevailing winds and not towards the afternoon sun to prevent rain from getting in and also to prevent them from heating up too much during the nesting season. It is always best to monitor nestboxes to spot potential problems and intervene if possible. Such as wet nests, blowvly larva, dead nestling etc... Good luck and hope you get to see many BLues in your boxes next season!