Well I haven't seen the pair again since the other day. Yesterday while taking a walk at the park near us (where I have five bb houses) I saw a pair down there. I am thinking it is the ones I saw in our yard, the park is only about 1/2 mile or less as the crow flies from our house. I am keeping my eyes open though for another pair. Got a little cooler yesterday and today is only supposed to be in the 30's, then the 40's for tomorrow and the weekend should be in the 50's with rain moving in. Hope they find enough to eat. Donna

Oh yeah I know how that is Angie! I'm not all that open about birds but my closest friends know I'm a bird watcher and seem to respect it. I'm still into a lot of other things for my age but I was born a nature lover and look to maybe have my 1st career being landscaping. And yes, they are awful birds. I've told others that I trap but I try to get them to understand that I'm only doing it for good reasons...:)...the 1st time I had euthanize a HOSP it was tough...real tough...but now, after seing what they do to our good, native, beautiful insect eating birds, I feel no contempt eliminating them. Whatever it takes to restore the balance and keep our good birds alive... By the way...read my post in the other thread...my neighbor owns a Martin house that I remove HOSP nests from.

I would like to update my case. The HOSP made one more attempt (when the wounded BB baby was still alive, but seemed could not compete for food), but that time I noticed that BB parents behaved strange and hesitated to enter the house, though they did not sound very concerned. Just in case I approached the house and stuck my finger in, as soon as I puled it out, the HOSP male flew out and I even touched him, BB parents chased him away. If I knew it before I could catch him. I checked the BB babies and they were fine but scared. I was sure that day the HOSP would not return, The next morning, 2 days later after the first HOSP attack, I found the wounded BB dead and the BB female tried to carry him out. I made her leave the house, took out and disposed the dead BB (smell was already bad). I decided to exploit the smartness of the HOSP against him. As I mentioned he leaned that the spooker was not dangerous, and fishing line was also useless against him. I opened the front wall and left it open to serve as a perch site. Instead I attached two-entry patch and stuck it with a scotch tape. I was certain that the HOSP would be too smart to ignore the sudden transformation of the BB house. Besides the house started looking more scary, like having two big eyes. The other thing I pursued with this transformation is to have emergency exit or entrance, since the HOSP would not be able to block the both holes at the same time. With the 2 holes there was more light inside and I could check the nestlings without opening the door. At first the BB parents were confused, but shortly they figured out their babies were still inside and doing well. As the result I have not seen the HOSP around anymore, the BB parents became more defensive and the three BB babies have fledged yesterday. Now I need an advice or opinion: a) I take the BB house down until I significantly reduce HOSP population. Actually the HOSP infestation was not too bad first, but then numerous young HOSPs fledged from the neighbors house and the area became heavily infested. That house is like the HOSP farm, and at the same time HOSPs would almost never seat on my roof. b) I keep the BB house with the transformed front wall, c) I restore the house to its original shape, where I can set up a trap as needed. Thanks. This post was edited by stal14 on Wed, Jul 2, 14 at 11:24

Ahhh sounds like a great new Bluebird soap opera about to take shape. Things could definitely get interesting. Keep us updated please. Bonnie