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

I am from Rhode Island Trail is in northern RI Bluebirds are not hardy there flocks crash will high snow levels. And cold. Mild seasons they expand there local numbers. When there found dead in spring means there food supply was low and they expired. You will also see some dead threw out spring after a late cold snap the birds will just end up missing but we know it was the late cold snap. Many are weaken from the trip north once they show up and winter returns large numbers perish. It weeds out the old and sick. Ray

I am no expert, but my guess would be that the HOSPs will come back, but the Bluebird won't. Any chance you could leave that house up to trap, and put up another for the Blues? What I would do is next time the HOSP build a nest in the box, leave the nest (the whole thing as long as it doesn't interfere with the trapping mechanism - only take out what you have to if it does) and then set the trap. Other birds will be less likely to enter if there's a HOSP nest, and the HOSP won't be able to resist going in.

Nephils, thank you! Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since they fledged and disappeared for a few days. Now the yard is full of juveniles in training with parents. The adults are still feeding them, but it's obvious that they are leading them to food and encouraging independence. This is the first time I have witnessed one leave the box in all our years of having bluebirds. I suspect it often happens around dawn. Poking their heads out was my tipoff that something was happening soon. I hope you get the opportunity to see some. Since a pair of adults is guarding box 2, I believe we will have another brood soon. Dad with juvenile Juvenile discovering the joys of the bird bath Susan