Cute pics! Reminds me I better check my birdhouse on the patio. This morning I saw a chickadee sitting on top of it. It's really only for decoration but maybe she was thinking of moving in! Not sure it would be safe for them as the hole is quite large and predator birds could get in. It originally was blocked so birds didn't nest in it but that piece has fallen off. We have lots of trees and leave most snags in the woods for nesting as well and feel it's best for them to nest in their natural habitat.

You will find helpful information at the web site linked below. Click on Nestboxes, then Placement. This provides a listing of the preferences of all the cavity nesters. You can use this info as it applies to the habitat you have available for your nestboxes. For example, chickadees might prefer more of a tree canopy, and bluebirds might prefer a more open location. I say "might" because they also like to keep us guessing LOL. There may also be other things they consider when choosing a home which we humans know nothing about, such as a preference for the same type of habitat or nestbox in which they were raised. IN ADDITION! You might want to carefully add a hole reducer for the chickadees to prevent harassment by larger birds (even the bluebirds), or even protect them from house sparrows. Nestbox specifications on that same web site will give you the recommended size, and there is even an entire page on hole restrictors under "Problems and Solutions" which mentions WHEN and HOW a hole restrictor should be added to avoid scaring the chickadees off. There are also some hints on the link for "Nestbox Pairing." The direction your nestbox entrance faces might not be as important as the location, as the birds will often perch on top or nearby to monitor their territory or enter to feed their young. Lots of considerations such as prevailing winds, amount of cover, visibility, etc. You will also find IMPORTANT information to prevent climbing predators - refer to the page on Predator Baffles. Bet has provided us this wonderful resource, collecting input from everywhere and everyone. Thanks Bet! BlueBars Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.sialis.org/index.html

OMG, this sounds so familiar! I had the most beautiful, 100% complete, dee nest and opened the box to find it FULL of ants! Not fire ants, just common sweet ants. They were not there before the heavy rains came but were all over the inside of the box after two days of rain. My pole is greased (I use axle grease) and the only way ants got into that box was that they were carried in by the dees in the moss. They continued to build during the rain. I sprayed the inside of the box, nest and all, with something called Camicide. I have lovebirds and it is a 100% bird safe product that I've used in my bird room many times so I knew it wouldn't harm the adults. The camicide killed 80 to 90% of the ants but some remained in the nest so I did what I thought had to be done and pulled the nest. I cleaned the box thoroughly, spraying again with Camicide and washing it and they were busy building again the next day. This current nest with the 6 eggs is much smaller than the first but they were in a hurry to lay and couldn't spend more time building. If you can find Camicide, it is safe and does work. In Atlanta you can find it in PET BIRD specialty stores. I buy it at bird fairs. You can also order it on line. BTW, on the bottle it does not mention "ants" as one of the things the spray will kill but I was told on my "lovebird" forum to buy it and it really works very well. I've sprayed it in my lovebirds cages with them inside the cages at the time. There are two types of Camicide spray, one is used inside or out and is SAFE for birds. The others is for outside use only and isn't safe for birds.

cheryllynn744: (The thread that will never end :-) Your question is what started this thread, lo, those many years ago. Best thing I've been able to do is to use one of those New Year's noise-makers that you crank that makes an ungodly noise--something the hawk has not previously heard that will freak him/her out. I have a stuffed owl up in my back yard, and it might as well not be there. For me, it worked fine for a week, and every bird in the vicinity was stressed out and came to squawk at it from a safe distance, and some were bold enough to get quite close. Couple of Bluebirds flew right above it, and hovered (as Bluebirds will) for a few moments, checking it out. But unless you move the decoy almost daily, songbirds soon learn that it is no threat to them, and they won't pay any more attention to it. Been there for about a year, and most of its feathers are gone, but it still has the silouhette of an owl--to no avail. -------------------------------------------------------- Recent hawk episode for me involved a dove nesting in my window sill. Doves--like pigeons--are "ledge nesters", and sometimes only place a few sticks on a ledge to keep the (2) eggs from rolling away. My dove built a little more elaborate nest, with lots of sticks forming a nest between my double-hung window and double-hung storm window, about 4 inches apart. I had the storm window raised about 10 inches, quite by mistake, and a dove nested there last year (between the 2 windows) and fledged 2 baby doves. Success! Another dove used the same nest this year, and added sticks to it. Unfortunately, the dove began setting on eggs about March 4th, where there were no leaves on the trees (yet) in my area, and the dove was more visible than last year. One morning about 2 weeks ago, I heard a THUMP on the window about daylight, and I opened the curtain and looked out. The dove was gone, the 2 white eggs were exposed in the nest, and a Peregrine Falcon was sitting on a tree limb outside the window, no more than 3 or 4 feet away. The Falcon saw me through the window pane, and flew off. The dove stayed away the rest of the day, and did not come back and begin setting on the eggs (again) until the next day. I thought it was rather remarkable that it even returned, after being attacked by a hawk (falcon). I had no idea how it survived the attack, since it seemed more-or-less trapped there, inside the two windows. But the THUMP sounded like the falcon hitting the window, so somehow, it slipped away. Maybe the falcon tried to attack from above, and hit the glass above the dove. I had an idea the falcon would come back and try again and sure enough, about 4 days later, another WHUMP on the window. Same result--I looked out, the dove was gone, the eggs were exposed, and the Peregrine Falcon was 3 or 4 feet away on a tree branch. But this time, I had gotten my crank, New Year's noise-maker out of the closet and had it on my dresser. I grabbed it, and ran up the hall and opened the front door as quietly as I could. The falcon was still sitting in the tree, and I eased out and cranked-out a bunch of raucous noise while running toward the tree, and the falcon freaked out and flew out of the tree. Unbelievable that the dove returned AGAIN, only a few hours later, and began setting on its eggs again, the very same day, after (somehow) surviving the second strike by the Peregrine Falcon!! Again, it sounded like the falcon hit the glass above the dove. The falcon did not return, and the dove continued setting for about 3 or 4 more days. Then one morning I heard noise in the window, and I peeped out to see the dove turning the eggs over beneath it, and it appeared to be examining them. Soon after, it flew away, and left the nest and the eggs, and did not return. After the dove did not come back many days later, it was obvious the dove had abandoned the nest, and I raised the window and got the 2 eggs out, and put them in my basement. I have an idea what I will find when I crack them open; I think I'll find 2 babies that were nearly ready to hatch until the dove flew away after the first falcon strike and stayed away for more than a day. I believe the eggs may have got too cold that night she was away, and the babies inside probably froze--or otherwise died wiithout their mother there to keep them warm. Shame that she spent weeks there, only to have it end that way. But amazing that she had the resolve to return after 2 falcon attacks and continue to TRY and hatch the eggs. And more amazing that she escaped with her own life. wt