WBNU is the abbreviation for the white breasted nuthatch, so I assume it'd be BHNU for brown-headed nuthatch. TUTIs are wonderful tenants and parents. Last year I had a pair in a bluebird box where the brood was almost wiped out by HOWR (house wrens). There were 6 eggs and the day before they would have hatched, I found all of the eggs on the ground below the nest box pecked to varying degrees. I put the least damaged egg back in and it hatched. I had a nest box camera and saw that the female nuthatch RARELY left the chick alone and stayed with it every night of its life. I don't know if that's normal or it was this female's reaction to having only one chick. In any case, they are a delight. Hope you have a nest of them someday. Bluebird blessings, Linda...

I have the same situation, except with two nests in boxes that are about 25 feet apart. This is the first year I have seen this behavior. They started building in one box, but after only one day a HOSP pair decided to take over the box, so the bluebirds moved to the other box. Then an even stranger thing happened. After two days, (and NO nest building) the HOSP pair just decided to leave! I have never seen this happen before, and I don't know why they moved on. (Maybe they could read my mind that a trap was in their future??) But I think this is the reason the bluebirds are building in both boxes - to try to control the territory. It will be interesting to see which box they choose.

Bless your heart. We do worry about our Blues, don't we? Well, the hawk isn't going to get the babies while they are inside the box. Mom and Dad are at risk though. Honestly, there is really not a thing that we can do to keep the hawks out of our yards. If you have bird feeders, they might draw the hawks in for a try at the pool of feeder birds. Were you sure that the Chickadee baby had been abandoned? Many times, the parents are nearby even when we don't see them. I wish you the very best of luck, and I hope that your Blue babies successfully fledge and grow to adulthood!! :o)

Hi Kaitlyn- I'd put up a bluebird box. I've got a good # of HOSP, too, but the sparrow spooker has worked out so far. My EABL's had 3 broods last year. The reason why the spooker goes up after the 1st egg is because the bluebirds are committed to the box after they lay an egg. Once you put up the spooker, make sure the bluebirds take to it. If you've got a 2nd egg the next day, then you're good to go. The reason why you don't want to keep the sparrow spooker up all the time is so the HOSP don't get too used to it. After the babies fledge, you take it down. The Sialis site is the best site to guide you on how to deal with HOSP. Fishing line can be used year round, but you want to make sure it's thick enough & weighted down so no birds get caught up in it. If HOSP get to box 1st, you are legally allowed to remove their nest & eggs. Sometimes, a Van Ert trap is necessary to trap them in box if they keep invading, but you need to monitor hourly so you don't trap a bluebird or something else. Others use ground traps, too. The Sialis site should guide you through this. Also, I feed dried mealworms in winter & live ones during nesting season to keep the bluebirds around. HOSP will eat anything, but they like seed better than anything else, so I don't use it. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with. Nicole