Dirty, Rotten, *&%$#

I've been watching my bluebird box closely for the past few days waiting for the babies to fledge. It hit me that I hadn't seen the adults for a couple of days and this morning, I saw two (I assume a pair) house sparrows entering the box. An inspection of the box found four dead babies. To add insult to injury, those lousy house sparrows are building their own nest right on top of the dead baby birds.

After doing some research, I found this is not uncommon. Have any of you experienced this and what have you done to prevent it?

I guess, as the saying goes, wait 'til next year.

clean it out, maybe the bluebirds come back? surprised the other birds would build on rotting baby birds, doesn't seem like a good idea

Hence the phrase Bird Brain. lol

phantelope wrote in post #16893758
clean it out, maybe the bluebirds come back? surprised the other birds would build on rotting baby birds, doesn't seem like a good idea

I intend to clean it out and start over. Will serve those interlopers right!

Sounds like possibly the hole in the bird house was too large.
http://www.craftybirds​.com/bluebirdhouses.ht​ml

Thanks for that but I don't download executable files. I do know the hole is the correct size, however.

I didn't think it was a .exe sorry. Anyway here's the info.
"The correct size of hole helps deter predators while making it easier for the nestlings to exit when they mature. A 1 1/2" entrance hole is the correct diameter for the Eastern Bluebird and Western Bluebird, 1 9/16" diameter for the Mountain Bluebird."

joemusic321 wrote in post #16897615
Thanks for that but I don't download executable files. I do know the hole is the correct size, however.

Executable? It was a HTML link just like the links to the different pages on this site.

The bluebird house plans that I clicked on are PDFs encapsulated in an executable file. After a second look, I do see some that are viewable on the site. At any rate, the hole in my bluebird house is 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Thanks for the info.

Put up your Bluebird houses in pairs that are 15 feet apart. If you want more than one bluebirds to nest, put up a second set 250-300 feet away from the first set. Sparrows will not let another Sparrow nest closer than 250 feet +/-, but will let Bluebirds nest nearby. So by putting up the pair of houses, the Sparrows will nest in one and leave the Bluebirds alone in the second one. My neighbor taught me that and he tried it and it works.

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to get to work on some new home construction

Same thing happened to me. A pair of bluebirds laid 5 eggs and within a week of scheduled hatching I checked on them to find all five eggs gone and then saw an English Sparrow on the box. I shot the little bugger with a .22 air rifle and now I have House Wrens inside.
Last year I had a pair that laid four eggs. I could tell by the activity that they hatched and then I noticed I hadn't seen the male in a while. The female abandoned the nest too so I hand fed them until they were ready to fledge. Every hour, dawn to dusk with mealworms and other goodies.
I live next to an orchard and when they spray for insects they may eliminate the natural food supply. When that happens the adult birds will abandon a nest to save themselves.

ramtop wrote in post #16900132
Put up your Bluebird houses in pairs that are 15 feet apart. If you want more than one bluebirds to nest, put up a second set 250-300 feet away from the first set. Sparrows will not let another Sparrow nest closer than 250 feet +/-, but will let Bluebirds nest nearby. So by putting up the pair of houses, the Sparrows will nest in one and leave the Bluebirds alone in the second one. My neighbor taught me that and he tried it and it works.

And smash the house sparrow eggs before they hatch. In the US, you can legally kill House Sparrows.

I have 6 boxes in an adjacent pasture to my house that I monitor on a regular basis. I've been battling sparrows for years- I can't tell you the number of sparrow nests I have torn out of these nest boxes. I've also witnessed the destruction of bluebird eggs and the killing of bluebird babies by these nasty pests.

All I can say is just keep up the battle- regular monitoring helps to tip the odds in the bluebrd's favor - I'd say on average I probably have 10-12 birds fledge every year.

And people scream bloody murder about cats killing birds. ROTFL