Thank you Cathy...I hope it's a successful season for all of us! What an enjoyable, yet worrisome addiction! Donna

Sorry to hear of it Lisa. As Kendra said, there wasn't anything you could have done. We all put up SUCH a battle with HOSP! Even then, they still find a way to cause problems. They destroyed my first eggs this year and I only left ONE DAY! Before I could get the spooker up. Then my bluebirds were ready to lay and the HOSP took over their box! That Male HOSP is now K.I.A. The blues moved to my other box and quickly layed but things have been going down (see my posts) All this, and their #s are still seriously down in my neighborhood! I've taken babies, eggs, adult HOSP, you name it. But it only takes one HOSP! Just stay at it, and the HOSP will pay in due time! It's an endless battle, but believe in me and sialis, you CAN get their population down! It's all a matter of time. They were once on the increase in my neighborhood (neighbor's Martin Complex WAS FILLED with them a couple years ago) Continue to make note of others' effective methods. Kendra, how in the HECK do you catch THAT MANY HOSP in just ONE WEEK??? I've had the thing with 2 males and 2 females in it and it can take AT LEAST a WEEK to catch even one or two more! I've caught Chickadees, Song Sparrows, Chipping sparrows, etc. I've had 2 fatalities. 1 dee and 1 song sparrow. But lately it's been mainly all HOSP. I had to remove it from my other site because there were 8 in the trap, and it was knocked over and 4 HOSP (thankfully HOSP!) were found bloodied and decaying in my DRST. I believe it was cats. This was a day or two after my last check. In total, over a 2-4 week period I caught 4-6 HOSP. The other site has a much more explosive population, yet the trap doesn't seem to attract as much attention as everyone on sparrowtraps.net says. Remember though, this is my first season with the trap. In total, not many natives trapped. Wishing you better luck with the HOSP Lisa! When all is said and done, you should have some success this season.

Excellent news on all fronts Donna! You must be living right. Congrats! Cathy

Thanks everybody. I'm really excited about the Dees as this is the first time I've had them in a box. Last year they nested in a natural cavity in my pear tree and a cat got the Mama and 6 babies. Pulled them right out of the tree. Killed them all and left them lay there on the ground. I was just sick about it. I'm still really worried about the &%#*@ wrens. the Tres and Blues are in the front about 75 feet apart and the Dees are in the back. As soon as they had a good start on their nest I put a reducer on the box so the Blues couldn't bother them. Phil I know I need them more than they need me LOL but I still like to secretly pretend they do need me. Cathy