Oh dear. I am a shame to the Brug-Loving community! I love shaping my plants. I even use florist's wire to shape my Nandinas and my Christmas Tree for gosh sakes! So you can imagine my shock at reading this post. All those years of pruning my Precious Brug, whacking off long branches that I felt didn't 'belong', branches that didn't shoot off in the right direction. Pulled down branches and set them with wire so that they would shade my Kalanchoe plants. If one of the thinner branches were touching the Kalanchoe, it got whacked off. Hard, wood branches! And what have I been doing with a total of a ton of branches all these years? The Recycle Bin and out on the curb on Thursday night for pick-up on Friday morning! ACK ACK ACK! Now that I think back, I've probably put thousands of dollars worth of brug cuttings on the curb...ACK ACK ACK! ::sigh::

mothraeve...you are so wrong. It is better to not put up birdhouses then to put poorly mounted houses which put the birds in danger. Houses should be mounted on slick metal poles with predator baffles. Why on earth would you want to put up a house just to have birds move in and then have the eggs or babies eaten????? Do you realize an incuating female is also in danger if a raccoon finds your houses? A raccoon can and will eat an incubating female bird if it raids the nest at the right time. You need to check out sialis.org for information on properly offering nestboxes. Just because you havn't had a problem yet doesn't mean it won't happen. In nature like it a natural cavity if a predator gets a bird, well that is nature. If it happens in a poorly mounted nestbox, that isn't nature, it is the fault of the person putting up the nestboxes. Just because lots of people put them up improperly and endanger the birds by doing so doesn't mean that you should give advice that it is ok to do this. It isn't ok to put birdhouses on trees of fences! You should take your boxes down if that is the way you think. Plus unless you actually monitor your nestboxes you would have no way of knowing if the nesting actually succeeded or not.

Lisa You will be losing sleep and pulling your hair out before this is over. I have not worked the last few years so I do nothing but watch out the window during nest building. I have seen these situations more than once. This year I am working and can only hope while I'm gone tragedy will not strike. Running out screaming and waving at hosps is always a good tactic. LOL It does work. First Keep trying with the drst. The natives will not go in it again after they get caught. The titmice always bite me when I let them out. So cute! I like to put it near a brushy area where the hosps hang. Next shoot at them with the bb gun every time you see them at the box. You will find out they are very smart. Even if you don't hit them you can sway them to another box by doing this. I would try to notice where they are flying in and out of your yard from and situate the drst there and also put another box with a 1 1/4" hole near there to see if I could entice them to switch boxes. Then let them get comfy and keep them busy. Then use the Van Ert. Of course like all traps it still must be monitored as other birds fit through that hole. You have to stop feeding the other birds or use only safflower seed when using the drst. Once they get busy nest building for real they will be more apt to eat from the trap. Keep us posted on your situation and your sanity. Any questions don't hesitate to ask. Good Luck Cathy

I live in Northern VA and have TRES for the first time this year. I actually have seen up to 6 TRES at a time checking out my boxes. I think I have a pair interested as they sit on the box and go in and out but no nest or anything. In fact, whenever we have a cold or rainy day (like today in the 50's and rain) they seem to disappear. As soon as we have a nice day, they come back. I don't know specifically about Michigan, but here in VA, nothing yet. I also have HOSP and they visit my yard frequently. I am currently trapping with an Inbox trap and have gotten 1 so far. I am ready for any more that may come. I am hoping to get a bunch so they can't harass my cavity nesters. Good luck with your TRES! Alison Leesburg, VA