As always, fantastic picture Ken. Like Ken, I feed mealworms during the winter. I'm up in MA and I rarely see any Bluebirds in the summer months, but I get to feed them in the winter. I can't just put out a bowl of mealworms though. All the larger birds, and even chipmunks eat them if I do. So I have a feeder with a stovepipe baffle under it to keep undesirables out.

Out of the 10 nest boxes I have in my yard, 7 are occupied by downies at night, all year long. This is not uncommon. They are quite stealthy about going in there, though... I have never seen one enter, but if you go over to the box at dusk with a flashlight (in summer time) and make a click click with your tongue, they will pop their head to the hole to see what the commontion is... its too funny.

Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. I have decided to follow your advice and take the trip to Ireland if my daughter is still wanting to. To answer some of the comments. I do have a DRST and in the past have had a lot of luck with it later in the year. I have been using mixed bird seed as bait but seem to catch mostly house finches and song sparrows in it. Also, I have a squirrel that regularly cleans out the bait. This morning I tore up a couple of slices of white bread and sprinkled them around the trap. Hopefully that will get the HOSP interested. I have some popcorn that I will also try. I do have a dummy nest box. It has the screws for the Van Ert installed on the rear of the door and last year I caught about a dozen in it. Trouble is right now the blues are protecting that one too. A couple of weeks ago I bought and installed a slotted opening (Kentucky style) box and the blues seemed to like it a lot. I also bought an in-box camera but when I went to install it in the slotted box, I found the pitch of the roof was not steep enough and the camera was level with the opening. I was afraid the birds would bang into it when they entered so I replaced that box with one I had made that had a steeper roof and featured the more common 1 1/2 inch round opening. The camera worked fine and the blues seemed to cope with the design change. But then I decided ** to convert that box to the slotted style, so I removed the door, cut one of identical width and installed the new door, leaving the slot at the top. Again the birds seemed to have no problem handling the change. I still have the door with the round hole opening and can switch back in a matter of minutes if an unexpected complication arises. Right now the only thing I can see is that the steeper pitch of the roof brings the overhang down a bit more than the store bought slotted box did. The adult blues have no problem flying up and under the overhang but I wonder if it will be a problem for the nestlings when they fledge. Since 2005 I have had 55 babies fledge from my one box and every one has flown out and up to the trees (except one time when I had the box turned too much toward my house and two out of four flew up on the deck). But I wonder if this overhang might cause them to fly down on the grass. The HOSPs do seem curious about the box, whether the opening is round or slotted. It may be because it is so prominently placed. Right now they seem content to nest behind the shutters on my neighbor's house. I appologize to you Donna for such a lengthy post on your thread. But I have been itching to talk about my new boxes (and my HOSP concerns) and this seemed like a good place and time to do it. If anyone has walked down this path before and can forsee problems vis-a-vis the interchangable doors, or fledging problems with the overhang -- or anything else, I would welcome your comments/suggestions/advice. **I really hope to get a picture of two or more speckled heads peeking out at the same time on fledge day, but not at the expense of my birds. Dave

Perhaps a Gilbertson PVC box for the dees? My dees have chosen PVC boxes over wooden ones for the past 3 seasons (actually as long as I have been monitoring them). I place the PVC boxes near the forest edge vs the open areas that the blues like. Actually, even though this is a BB forum, I have a special place in my heart for the dees as I have at least 6 that stay with me year round. They recognize me and don't fly off when I refill the feeders. Even when I monitor their boxes, the mamas fuss at me from a short distance away.