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

So far I've gotten 5 males and 1 female... so proud! Unfortunately the female bb was looking at it.. hope she sticks with the nest she started. I'M SO EXCITED, the female bb just ate some of my homemade bluebird suet! I knew someone was getting it, but I just saw her eat several mouthfuls and take one large glob off with her... Freeze dried mealworms have been accepted just fine. I have some cool picture plans. Once I have them eating from the window feeder again, I'm planting pink geraniums in the planter for a beautiful background... this will make for some awesome pics! Sandra

BlueBars, I nearly had a heart attack! First I found the dirty water in my dogs water bowl and then I found the paw prints! I took photos and my exterminator assured me they were raccoon paw prints! He lives in the country and shoots and traps coons all the time so I knew he'd know. My dog sleeps upstairs in bed with me so she never heard a thing and my hubby travels often and was out of town. The only thing that I hated was that he (HUBBY) didn't walk into the kitchen in the middle of the night to find that raccoon! LOL! That would have been the last straw with my obsessive bird feeding! First we had roof rats (yep, I was told to get rid of my back yard feeders) and then the raccoon! I find it amazing that the raccoon went through not only one dog door but two. He had to enter the screened in porch through one, then go through the next one into the kitchen! Ate the dog food, washed up in the water bowl and went right back out the way he came in! LOL! The dog doors are always closed off at night.... now!

Tim, I am so sorry this has happened. This is the third incidence this season that I have heard of a HOSP going in a nestbox with a spooker attached. I have no clue what the other spookers look liked but what does yours look like? Does it have the dowels that come over the roof of the box with streamers hanging down touching the roof of the nestbox all the way from the back to the front of the nestbox? Do you have two dowels coming out over it or just one? That is the only thing I can think of is that the spooker wasn't as scary as it should be. However....HOSP seem to be really bad this year all over the US. I am having way more of them interested in nestboxes than usual this year and so are many others. I am worried about a pair of TRES right now that haven't started laying eggs yet. A HOSP pair is hanging around them...this is at a park where I have a small trail. I have trapped five down there this Spring already.