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baby TRES good doggie

15 years ago

good morning - well the TRES babies have been peeking out and being teased by their parents for DAYS now. I decided to give up watching, not really knowing when they hatched and when they might REALLY fly away. So this morning, I heard a sparrow and sure enough there was the little bugger on top of the swallow box. He went inside was standing guard in the doorway as the swallows swooped around. I didn't know what to do, so I decided to go out and cover the front hole and peek in the top. I couldn't see any babies because of the enormous pile of nest feathers but I have to assume at this point that they are either dead or flown. Anyhow as I'm walking away my husband yells at me to look at my dog who is in her classic "i have something but I don't know what it is and I'm afraid but I ain't leaving either" pose. I said it's probably a feather (that's the usual prey). If it's furry and squeaks it would have been history quickly. So I went over to check and it wasn't a feather, it was a baby bird sitting in the grass not too far from the nestbox. I quickly turned to get the dog away from it, and my husband said as I moved away he saw the bird fly off into the trees. I haven't seen the rest of the swallows since then and hopefully they are together somewhere safe. Now, this box is the ONLY one that doesn't have a VanErt setup. The box next to it (about 5-10 feet away) does have one. Should I close up the one he is using and see if he goes to the other one? Would you just let him nest and addle the eggs? Not sure what I'm going to do.

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Comments (5)

crcst
15 years ago
TRAP HIM ANY WAY YOU CAN AND GET RID OF HIM.
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dzyg
15 years ago
Anita, I would check that nestbox to find out if he did kill any of the babies, unless you see the adult swallows going in to feed babies. Clean it out and get a vanert in that one, they are so easy to set up. Hope the babies fledged and didn't get caught by the nasty HOSP. Hope you can trap him!

Donna
Donna
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anita55
Original Author
15 years ago
Donna, these babies were ready to go. I guess I'll take the nest out tomorrow and see if he did any damage or if they all got away ok. This box is going to be hard to put a trap in because it only opens from the side and there is metal mesh under the hole to boot. I guess that's for a foothold for the fledglings. I don't know if I will be able to manage to measure and place the van ert correctly only from the side of the box. Is it possible? Maybe I will just switch boxes if I can. I have an extra with a Van Ert setup. Keep fingers crossed that I find an empty nest tomorrow. I'm dreading pulling that nest out.
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bbcathy
15 years ago
Anita It is possible to put the Van Ert in the side opening box but it is a pain. You need a short screwdriver and a strong hand. Your husband may have to help you.
Cathy
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anita55
Original Author
15 years ago
You know what, Cathy, I am wrong. It does open from the top so that's not what the problem was; it was the mesh right below the opening. Do you think I can remove that? Or should I put the screws right through the wire? He is out there singing loudly this morning and I know what's coming. I caught a few early in the season with my repeating trap but some animal kept knocking it over in the night so I stopped using it. I may have to set it up again. As I said in a post earlier in the season my new next door neighbor had a sparrow nest on either end of his roof, so figure 10 baby sparrows each nesting. I may be in trouble here.
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