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snake got bluebirds

17 years ago

Hi we had babies born on the 26th of june and the next morning noticed mom & dad acting funny...went out to check on babies and they were gone. Their box sits on 4x4 post my first time w/bluebirding, now I know I need to put a baffle up or my husband thought about siding the post and greasing it down. We think a snake because no sign of racoon or squirrel getting in the hole....and nest was not bothered, cleaned it out and by june29th they had rebuilt and I have 4 eggs again, so we need to take care of this ....this weekend. any other advise?

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Comments (5)

ken3592
17 years ago
What type of baffle do you have up, and if it is a wobbling baffle what are its dimensions? It could have also been a House Wren so make sure to keep your eye on the nest. You could put up a wren guard, but if it was a wren that attacked, it might not be deterred by the wren guard since it already knows where the entrance hole is. Good luck.
Ken
lisa11310
17 years ago
DeeDee im sorry about the babies. Lets get you through this nesting happy. Please go to www.sialis.org and see what a proper set up is and how to make a Wren guard. There is much to learn about keeping your Blues safe.
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A baffle on the post beneath the box is about all you can do. Black snakes can drop from overhanging limbs. I'll never forget the time a black snake fell off the rafters in our old barn (when I was a teenager) and onto a mouse. If the area around the post is suitable (sun and dry), you could plant lavender there. Cameron
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Mimi, the snake trap is fine as long as you monitor it. If a snake becomes trapped, you must be nearby to release it or it can become entangled and die. Instead, I recommend that you baffle your nestboxes--I use the stovepipe baffle on all 35+ nestboxes that I monitor and I have never lost an egg, nestling or adult bird to a climbing predator. The stovepipe I use is 6" in diameter and 24" long . . . others use 8" diameter stovepipe. It is important to install the baffles so that they wobble as this keeps climbing predators such as raccoons from being able to shimmy up to the nestbox. I also recommend using the hardware cloth (as shown on the link below) as this entices snakes to climb inside the baffle towards daylight. Since they cannot get through the hardware cloth, they become frustrated and leave. I know for certain that there are snakes at all my nestbox locations, including the ones here at the house, and I also know that these baffles work and are doing their job! Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Predator Baffles
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Hi Michelle My trap is like the Krueger trap but more simple just buy garden netting its in a roll. The net has holes about 1 inch the snakes cannot climb up pass the holes with out getting trapped. Use wire ties and tie onto post just bunch up the netting and the snake will go into one hole then another then will become trapped. (easy and cheap) You will love the numbers of bluebirds you will save. very popular with Purple Martin landlords in southern states. If this trap did not work for me i would have called it quits but i am more confident i can save bluebirds and not feed them to the local snake population. My bluebird population has declined some because of the snakes not any more. Ray
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Thanks for this post, Ray. We have a baffle, yet this spring's first clutch of bluebird eggs disappeared. It was during a very rainy spell, and I had not checked on them for a couple of days. When I did, gone! No pieces of eggs around the house on the ground, etc. However, in 2 day's time, other animals could have eaten the eggs, so it COULD have been a starling that I later saw reaching into the box. (We now have a guard on the front to help keep the startling from reaching the babies - I hope! We now have 2-day-old nestlings.) -PLEASE ** See my post if anyone can give input for me: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5334123/m=23/remove-dead-nestling I'll check out that youtube about the wire mesh. I can't imagine the big snakes I've seen here not climbing right on/over anything stiff enough. We've been lightly spraying the pole AND baffle each evening with oil. The netting sounds good to me, except I would be afraid finches or other "clinging" birds might get caught in it. ?
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erictammy
17 years ago
I just saw baffles for wood posts at Wild Birds Unlimited. It's the first time I've seen one for wood post.
chinamigarden
17 years ago
Wild Bird Center has the baffles for wood posts too. :)
susant_gardener
17 years ago
Hello - Not sure if anyone can help me, but I have a nest of chickadees in a yard light pole in front of our house. The nest is about 8-12" below the hole where the cross bar used to be. My concern is that the babies will not be able to get up the smooth pole to get out. Parents are still feeding them, and when we peeked, they appear to have some feathers. Should we just leave them alone and see if they get out?

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