We have spent most of the rainy weekend watching and photographing the birds on the Jelly Porch. I counted the pair of House Wrens, 5 different Baltimore Orioles, a pair of Cardinals and of course the many hummingbirds at their feeder. I almost forgot the pair of House Finches who have joined the group that likes grape jelly. It is fun to watch how each behaves. I don't know if the wrens are choosing this nest(I placed a gourd house up high in the corner) or another somewhere else. They aren't here daily, but always return. They are very mean to the other birds. The male orioles are mean to the juvenile males. The female redbird is more adventurous than the timid male and comes directly to the jelly; he hesitates a few times before flying down. The bluebirds have nested in the martin house; no martins this year; also in another blue bird house. A pair of Brown Thrashers have returned for several years to the east side yard and I am sure nest there someplace. I have begun seeing the gorgeous Blue Buntings this week both at the seed feeder and ground feeding. Lots to watch.

I tried several things like I made a brand new wren guard out of light cardboard so it was so obvious. I made it so I could tape back the front flap so she could see the hole...it looks like an extension of the roof. She STILL wouldn't go in. Daddy seemed a bit peeved with her. He'd go to the hole and move aside as if to make room for Mama to look in the hole with him there. There were lots of vocalizations between then. Again, she would go TO the hole but would not go in. The temps here have dropped from the 80s to the 60s so I guess I'm stuck. If she doesn't keep those eggs warm, there could be problems. I will be watching the video so I know when she goes out of the box. But I can't watch all day. Daddy Blue saw and chased the house wren several times so I guess we have to depend on him. As far as whether you have them, do you have a field guide? They have maps in there where you can see the range of birds. If you don't have one, I'll look it up in mine. Linda...

House wrens are only a threat to Bluebird eggs and new hatchlings until they are about 6 days old, after that the wren can no longer pick them up and throw them from the nest which is what a wren will do to baby birds. If you had almost fully grown babies killed in the nest it was probably due to House Sparrows, the wren maybe came afterwards and filled the house with sticks. If you have wrens in the area once the Bluebird lays the first egg you can install a wren guard, but you would need to watch closely to make sure the Blues accept it, some don't. A wren guard is made of cardboard and comes down off the front of the nestbox and down to conceal the hole of the box from the frontal view, sides can be added to prevent a wren on the top of the nestbox looking down over and stills seeing the hole. Info on this is on the sialis.org site. Also to prevent House Sparrow attacks you can add a sparrow spooker to the nestbox once the first egg is laid, it is to be taken down right after fledging. This info is also on the sialis site. Good luck! Donna

bedeilia congrats on your chickadee nest. I would advise putting a wren guard on the chickadee box until they are 9-10 days old. I am glad you do not let the wrens nest. I would like to invite you to share your story and join the blue bird nut cafe forum. It is similar to this website but much more active and if you post your question there, you will get more help and answers. Hope to see you there. http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/ -Tyler This post was edited by tmann05 on Thu, Jun 27, 13 at 9:41