If you really are worried about the tree...you could relocate some of them to another citrus tree....though they are picky and it could kill them. They only show up on our ruby red grapefruit and persian lime tree. i certainly would not move all of them. Mommy laid those eggs there because your tree was best! Honestly, I don't think they'd kill the tree even if thay ate most of the leaves. The leaves will grow back stronger. The caterpillars will make crysallis's soon enough...they look like little brown branches with a string helping them hold onto the tree. Leave those be, trying to move them could damage the developing butterfly.

I have had an all out war with the hosp. I have purchased everything under the sun to control them but like you they just declared my property, their property. so back in february i went out and purchased a remington 77 bb/pelet gun.. (whic was $80 at walmart) but i couldn't get em... so then i got the blaine johnson ground trap and it was great.. i trapped one male on the 3rd day... but then a month went by and i really think they knew not to go in the trap.. so i went back to the sialas website and called mr. van ert.. he gave me such great advise about catching them. i purchased the universal inbox traps from him .. and trapped all less than a week... and my husband being a good shot, got a female with the gun.. Mr. Van Ert did tell me the ground traps are not as effective for the older sparrows as they are smarter than the younger ones.. he said the younger ones are more able to be trapped in the ground traps. Good luck to ya!

They did look kind of big, I never saw one before, hubby spotted it and when I looked it up the other bird there was a afemale. I haven't seem them around any longer. My TRES should be due to hatch in the next couple of days. when we go to look in, she's in there and doesn't fly out, so I don't know what's going on, all must be well. She peeps out alot. Oout a scoop of worms out today, no one is taking so far.

Thanks everyone. The puzzle pieces are falling in place. I think that the circling hawks I saw may well have been parents teaching their youngsters to hunt, judging from the calling to one another and the fact that two of these hawks appeared to be a slightly different color and a bit smaller than the other two. I'm feeling greatly relieved to think that the swallows and hummers are safe somewhere else. The hawks don't lack for food this year. Some of the rabbits are really huge and a single one would feed a family of hawks. Last year a neighbor's dog killed the fox babies in the den at the edge of the woods behind our meadow. :-( Needless to say the parent foxes went elsewhere to raise young this year, and this left a plentitude of rodents and a predator niche that the hawks are now filling. Also our cat has grown too old to hunt as she once did and the two neighbor cats are rather clueless when it comes to prey. So the hawks are seemingly reaping the rewards. We have had a multitude of robins this year as well, and they have raised several batches of fledglings. I'm surprised that they too have not flown off in fear of the winged predators, and also surprised that the overpopulation of moles have left them worms to eat. But I'll just enjoy watching the hawks and robins, since they are the most ubiquitous right now.