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Dead Bluebird & HOSP

Sandy_Bluebirdlover

15 years ago

Today I was at the stable where I board my horses and work. They have a Purple Martin house up on a pole, and I noticed that there was a dead male Bluebird on one side and a dead female House Sparrow on the other. It appeared that they had both been killed inside the nestboxes, and the killer had tried to throw their bodies out, but they had gotten stopped by the rail.

I would have assumed that the BB was killed by HOSP, but who killed the female HOSP?

There are many HOSP in the main barn, and HOSP occupy most of the holes in the Purple Martin house. There is ONE Purple Martin pair in there, and I guess there must have been a BB pair too, as I have seen the female nearby, flying around the house and perched on the fence rail underneath.

There are Starlings around, but they do not seem to be around the house, they are nesting inside the big sliding door of the barn.

Do HOSP kill other HOSP?

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Comments (4)

lisa11310
15 years ago
Sandy, that is sad. I know this is not your property or your box. Can you take information to the owners? My 22 has a bird shot that works well on HOSPs and does not hurt barn walls (will that spook horses)?. If the owner is not willing to be a good landlord please ask them to take the house down. Send them to a Martin site and also to sialis.org. I do not believe HOSPs kill each other, maybe the Starling got her? Maybe the owner will let you take over the bird situation there,(on your own time). I know they probably think they have more pressing issues to attend to.
Sandy_Bluebirdlover
Original Author
15 years ago
The owners want Purple Martins, because they were asking me how to identify them a while back. I explained to the lady who owns the place that the HOSPs eat grain, and kill/drive off the birds that eat the bugs. It was news to her! She definitely wants birds that eat bugs. Anything that eats the bugs around a stable is welcome! There are some barn swallows trying to nest in the smaller, older barn too.

The 22 would definitely spook the horses, and probably upset the other boarders! :D But I like the thought. :)

I would like to set up one of those self resetting traps, I think that would work well.
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Tim, sounds like my house. I have 3 boxes. I put fishing line on a box that some HOSP had started building a nest in. I took the nesting material out and opened the box for awhile. This happened about a month ago. I closed the box and put fishing wire near the entrance hole. HOSP didn't like that and they seemed to have gone away. Today they are back building a nest, fishing wire and all. I opened the box, took out the nesting material to deter them. My blues have already started laying eggs in another box. There are 3 eggs now. . One HOSP landed on that box. The blues chased them away. Then One HOSP landed on the other box (empty box) blues chased them away from that box. I will have to keep an eye on everything. I live on a golf course. My yard is fairly large, but not too large that I can't see comings and goings. I don't have fish wire on the other two boxes. May have to put some on the box the eggs are in and see if that will work. Hope it won't disturb the blues too much.
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Oh, how sad. Of course you are distressed. I believe you are saying all the eggs are still in the boxes? Do you have sparrow spookers up on the boxes? The only thing I can think of that would kill all 3 bluebirds, but not eat them would be house sparrows. Are you seeing any house sparrows now trying to use the boxes?
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Sorry to hear this Tim. If I were you I would remove the HOSP nest and hope the blues return. I doubt you will get the female HOSP now that the male has left. In my experience with TRES I see them highly motivated to run off any bird in paired boxes when they are nest building. Once they are laying/incubating and feeding nestlings they focus much more on that then defending the other box. I have lots of paired boxes and that is what I have found anyway. As far as the Blues letting the HOSP take over the box...well they know they cannot win I suppose, no eggs or nestlings to defend so it is hard to say. I think each bluebird is different too on how hard they defend things. This year I have a hugely territorial male, never had one like this before. He has chased off my chickadees and is trying to chase off all the Tree Swallows in the yard. He is defending four nestboxes, two of these are 65 yards or so from the box they have eggs in. Nothing will be nesting in the box paired 35 feet from the blues nestbox...he won't allow it. The chickadees weren't even house hunting, just trying to eat out of the birdfeeders and he won't allow it. A couple times I have seen a HOSP come to the feeder and I quickly try to get the bb gun but the Male bluebirds chases it away before I can even think about it. He won't stop chasing until it is out of the yard too. I am curious to see if he calms down a bit once the eggs hatch which should be next week. Good luck to you, hope your blues can get down to business now that that HOSP is gone. Donna
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Hi Susan- Are you talking about the floor dimensions? They range according to what style of box you have (from 4" x 4" up to 5.5" I think). My other house is also decorative with a tin roof (smaller floor). That roof can definitely cause the heat to soar. My bluebirds used it before I got a proper bluebird box. Now, they definitely prefer the bluebird box. I'm going out of town for a couple of days, but would be happy to measure for you next week. In the meantime, ask on the other forum. There is a guy named Fred on there that is a total expert on bluebird box dimensions. Earlier in the season, there was a post about this that you may find helpful there. Is your hole diameter 1.5"? As you've read, there's not a lot of nesting going on right now. Nicole
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bbcathy
15 years ago
Sandy My neighbor has horses too and a few years ago the hosps had taken over almost all of the barn swallow nests in the barn. They like all swallows eat TONS of bugs. She also wanted Bluebirds. I told her I wouldn't help her unless she were willing to get rid of the hosps and use spookers and such. Long story short I finally convinced her she need to get rid of the hosps so I started trapping there. She now has all of her barn swallows back and I have nine boxes there full of Bluebirds and Tree Swallows. We could probably have Purple Martins too if she were willing to buy a house or a gourd system (better) that has the starling resistant entrances. It is kind of time consuming and continuous but well worth it.
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bandjzmom
15 years ago
Oh Sandy, I just cringe when I think about all of those HOSPs nesting in the Purple Martin housing. It's one of the saddest things to see. Sorry to say that it is both irresponsible and selfish of the owner to allow that to happen if she is aware of the nature of the HOSPs. Oh my gosh, and Starlings are bunking in there too? Just so awful. Advise the owner to take down the Purple Martin housing and purchase some bug lights?? That is my best suggestion.~Angie

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