About 13-15 Days Old....Almost ready to fledge! Photo taken July 26, 2011. I took this quickly and closed the box and left.
Introduction:
If you have been to this page before and read all the information below, you’ll know that this is a 3-year test starting 2010 for the purpose of seeing if the Eastern Bluebird can win the territorial wars over the non-native and non-protected House Sparrow by having an escape route (using the second hole) out of the box in case of an attack while inside the box (such as an incubating female), thus giving the bluebird more confidence to defend its territory OUTSIDE OF THE NESTBOX. I do not need to trap the House Sparrow for this test. It is same installation as a standard size NABS 4×4″ nestbox–very sturdy–including stovepipe ground predator guard. No Noel guard is needed on this box since it’s a deeper box. Any ground or avian predators cannot reach to a deeper box where eggs or nestlings are located.
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* The 2-holed box is larger than standard and has about twice the floor space;
* The deeper box does NOT prevent ground predators from reaching in and getting things. The extra depth is effective against large AVIAN predators. And the hanger system we use out here is effective against ground predators. Even deep boxes on poles are AT RISK from ground predators.
Same installation as standard NABS nestbox--on 1" conduit with stovepipe predator guard. Generally, these two-holer "mansions" are hanging boxes high in the trees in CA for the Western Bluebird. See Linda's website on how these boxes are monitored in CA.
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Linda has been keeping her page on this test site up to date, as well.
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Below are current test site results for the TEST–YEAR TWO breeding season 2011 commencing February 18, 2011 (chronological by date) for the two-holer bluebird “mansion” nestbox design for the larger Western Bluebird sent to me from Linda Violett in California. Remember: NO TRAPPING of HOSP are part of this test. BOLDED text below is Eastern Bluebird activity.
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TEST SEASON TWO: 2011 Results Below–Latest Date on Bottom:
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2/18: Partial HOSP nest. Nest removed.
3/11: Suspect Partial HOSP nest. Nest left. Will return early AM 3/12 to ID HOSP activity and will determine action.
3/16: HOSP partial nest. Saw female leave box. Also saw bluebirds in tree nearby. Removed nesting material (with hope bluebirds might try the box).
3/24: HOSP partial nest. Removed nesting material.
4/4: HOSP partial nest. Removed nesting material.
4/11: Partial nest–species not confirmed. Left nesting material.
4/19: HOSP completed nest. No eggs. Removed nesting material.
4/25: HOSP completed nest. No eggs. Removed nesting material.
5/2: HOSP completed nest. 3 HOSP eggs. Removed nest and eggs. Saw female HOSP fly out of box.
5/9: HOSP completed nest. 1 HOSP egg. Decided to let remaining eggs be laid and return later.
5/16: Same HOSP nest with 5 HOSP eggs. Removed nest and eggs.
5/24: New HOSP completed nest. 3 HOSP eggs. Removed nest and eggs.
5/31: New HOSP partial nest. Removed nesting material.
6/6: New nest started. Not able to positively ID. Left nesting material. Looked like HOSP (using hay).
6/13: Previous nest material from 6/6 covered with one-inch of sticks-looks like the House Wren. Left as is.
6/20: ID’d as Eastern Bluebird nest–finer dried grasses. Will check again!
6/27: Positively ID’d as bluebirds. Nest built high–new cup and first bluebird egg laid TODAY!
7/2: 3 bluebird eggs laid.
7/5: 3 bluebird eggs. Removed HOWR sticks on bottom. Treated nest with organic DE to control blowfly larvae.
7/13: 3 bluebird hatchlings! Look to be about 2 days old.
7/18: 3 bluebird nestlings doing well–look about 7-9 days old in development.
7/26: 2 bluebird nestlings 13-14 days old–perhaps one prematurely fledged? See top of this page for photo.
7/29: 3 baby bluebirds fledged. Parent swooped at me (for empty nest?). A few small House Wren sticks on top.
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TEST SEASON ONE: 2010 Results Below–Latest Date on Top Going Down:
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7/25: Day 20: Upon check at 7 PM, all bluebird babies had fledged. They could have either fledged 7/24 in the PM after I left or 7/25 sometime during the day–either Day 18 or Day 19. In spite of applying DE to this nest before the eggs hatched, I found some some live blowfly larvae on the underside of nest along with some dead ones. This could have caused the delay in development of the nestlings in addition to the heat we had here. Perhaps I did not apply enough DE to this nest, since the nest is larger because of the larger floor size. The good news is they made it out of the box.
7:24: Day 19: At 11 AM, bluebird young not fledged yet and saw female entering box with more food and sit on top of the box. Not sure if some young started to fledge and some still in box.
7/20: Great news! 14-day old nestlings looking healthy, developed as should be for age, and ready to fledge…possibly in 2-3 days (my prediction). Saw both parents fly in and out of the box with food several times while watching for 20 minutes, heard multiple nestlings cheeping. I was able to peek in quickly by cracking open the box and saw one chick standing alert-had spotted feathers! Parents did enter box and together feeding the nestlings–another great reason to have a larger sized floor (room for chicks and both parents). My theory why the nestlings were slow to develop: the nestlings were heat-stressed for about a week and too weak to take in food (?) but caught up in development later as they assumed growth and strength. The DE applied before hatching was beneficial to alleviate blowfly infestation! Time: 10:30 AM, 82 degrees and breezy. Box completely shaded by trees in AM.
7/15: Good news! The 3 nestlings ARE showing development, animation, and looking healthier with feather growth! (Woo-Hoo!)
7/13: 3 nestlings–Underdeveloped and weak at 8 days old. Saw female enter box to feed. Reason of health issue with nestlings undetermined.
7/11: 3 hatchlings (5-6 days old and looking underdeveloped–reason unknown at this point). 1 egg status unknown/not seen–possibly infertile egg removed by female or buried in nest. Due to rain, will check them on 7/13, weather permitting.
7/6: 1 EABL new hatchling. 3 eggs remaining.
7/5: 4 EABL eggs-saw female fly off nest. Hatching due July 6th or 7th.
6/29: 4 EABL eggs-saw female fly off nest-photos taken. Treated nest with DE for blowflies.
6/24: 4 EABL eggs. Female started incubating on 6/23. All is well!
6/22: NEWS! 3 laid EABL eggs! Saw female foraging for food nearby!
6/19: Appears to be perfect EABL clean grass nest–cup ready for eggs!
6/12: Partial HOSP nest materials found. Nest materials removed.
6/6: Box empty. Another torn piece of purple cloth on ground at pole.
6/3: Box empty. Property owner saw EABL male & “brown” bird on nestbox roof multiple times (not sure if HOSP or HOWR yet–we are also in wren territory). I returned later PM with binocs to do surveillance of the box. No sighting of either species by me then. Will check again on weekend for any activity.
6/1: Box empty. NO nest material in box except piece of purple cloth on ground by pole–no sign of HOSP at box check.
5/29: Completed HOSP nest with 3 eggs. Removed nest and eggs.
5/21: Partial HOSP nest built-no eggs. Saw male HOSP fly out of box. Nest removed.
5/14: Completed HOSP nest. 1 HOSP egg on floor below nest. Nest/egg removed.
5/6: Completed HOSP nest with 2 eggs laid. Nest and eggs removed.
4/28: 1-day old HOSP nest removed. Saw female fly out. Photo below.
4/27: Partial HOSP nest built. Nest removed (huge nest with trash).
4/22: Partial HOSP nest built. Nest removed.
4/15: Partial HOSP nest built. Nest removed.
4/11: Nest checked onpositively ID’d as HOSP. Saw female HOSP. Nest removed.
4/8: Nest not positively ID’d if HOSP or EABL. Left nest.
4/1: Partial HOSP nest built. Nest removed.
3/24: Partial HOSP nest built. Nest removed.
3/17: Partial HOSP nest built. Nest removed. HOSP pair sighted on box.
3/10: Partial HOSP nest built. Nest removed.
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- So far, I’m finding House Sparrow nests weekly in this box, as expected, as part of this test. The HOSP nests are removed and no trapping will take place. We will see now if the bluebirds can attain final occupation of nesting in this box by winning the competition for the territory. At least 2 acres of forage space is necessary. Please read this page on the test for more information on this 3-year test between the Eastern Bluebirds and the House Sparrows.
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Male HOSP. See how strong his beak is--uses to crack corn and seed and millet and for attacking other birds by pecking them to death. PLEASE DO NOT FEED CHEAP MIXED SEED and use SAFFLOWER OR SUNFLOWER SEEDS to attrack our songbirds. Mixed seed attracks the House Sparrow. I tell anyone who has a bluebird nestbox NOT to attract the House Sparrow by using mixed seed. I use ONLY black oil sunflower seeds in my yard.
Female House Sparrow--the bird people have difficulty identifying. The male HOSP bonds to a nestbox, not a mate. If she fails to reproduce successfully, the male HOSP will find another mate who will! The male bluebird, on the other hand, tends to bond to a mate and not a nestbox. If the female bluebird has trouble with one nestbox, he'll search out another nesting location for her. WE MUST NOT ALLOW THE NON-NATIVE HOUSE SPARROW TO USE NESTBOXES DESIGNED FOR NATIVE CAVITY NESTERS.
Here is another photo of this "two-hole mansion" nestbox's installation on back side of pole. See additional notes above.
These guys are persistent. Above is only one-day's work. I decided to remove it since I was standing there anyway taking this photo. I saw the female fly out of this box when I approached it.
This is the nest positively ID'd on April 11 and removed. You are looking at the front side as it looked when opening the front-opening box. You can see the tunnel has begun, as you see the straw starting to be built up on the back side of the nest. When I approached the box, the female was inside the box for about 20 minutes before I opened it and saw her fly out of it as I approached. Also mixed in the nest and not easily seen here were pieces of fabric, cellophane, and Cardinal feathers. If you look closely on the left side, you can see part of one of the small feathers.
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Note: This Test Box was installed at the beginning of March 2010.
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What is this two-hole test all about? Read on!
This bluebird breeding season commences with installation of a test box (pictures below). I have agreed to test one 2-hole nestbox “mansion” made by Linda Violett in Yorba Linda, CA, for her Western Bluebirds. Maybe the tragedies we hear about our bluebirds getting attacked by the House Sparrow inside a nestbox does not have to happen. Can the bluebird save himself without too much human intervention by escaping those attacks and keeping dominant over his nest site of choice? That’s what this test is about.
Two-Hole Test Boxes 1 and 2 for 2010!
One of these 2-hole “mansions” you see here in this picture which I received from Linda will be used for the test and installed on a very sturdy steel pipe with a stationery (not wobbly) ground predator stovepipe baffle since post-mounted 2-holers must be protected from ground predators the same as 1-holed boxes. Linda’s theory is if the bluebird adults can escape from the box during a House Sparrow attack, the bluebirds can outcompete House Sparrows outside the box and are better able to defend their nest and territory. On her own trail and in other test sites around the country, she’s finding success in bluebird fledglings in House Sparrow problem areas. These boxes have been built with larger floor space, deeper (hole to floor), and with two holes. The two holes allow a bluebird, such as an incubating female, to have an escape route during a House Sparrow attack. The extra hole also conveniently provides more ventilation on very hot days. Linda’s boxes hang in shady trees–she recommends that post-mounted boxes be painted glossy white to reflect heat or sun shields. I will be leaving the test box on my trail natural because the location will have shade in the late morning through early afternoon. The box will have two or more acreage of forage territory to allow the Eastern Bluebird adults to stay closer to the box and not have to fly too far away to find food for themselves and their chicks. This allows bluebirds to keep a closer guard on their nestbox. All of my other boxes remain with my modified standard NABS box size and design with two predator guards, per Virginia Bluebird Society’s recommendations. The mounting system will be be modified slightly in the workshop relative to the proper sturdier hardware to hold it on a heavy pipe, as opposed to the one-inch conduit I use for my other boxes.
I will be keeping very close and detailed monitoring of the test site several times a week and posting details on this page weekly. I agreed to this since this section of an “in-town” location where I have two of my own nestboxes have had House Sparrows (and House Wrens) on my own trail in 2009. I will be removing House Sparrow nests and eggs and removing any House Wren dummy nests, which is likely, as well. I will not be using sparrow spookers or doing any trapping as part of this test to see how the Eastern Bluebird does in this 2-hole mansion-style nestbox in an area of problems in past where the bluebird can escape attacks and are more able to defend their territory on their own — thinking “outside the box”.
Logs from 2009 showing historical problems is provided on Linda’s site on her test locations to give the reader a history of those problems before 2-holers are put in place. It is the intent to keep the 2-hole test box in installed for the test for a period of three (3) consecutive years, without TRAPPING the HOSP. Year 1 will be a transition year as this test commences. Linda says the first year that 2-hole nestboxes are put in HOSP problem areas is when bluebirds learn they can actually outcompete HOSP on their own; some losses (eggs) can occur during that time as bluebirds gain confidence in defending the box and their territory. More on this theory: during the second year, bluebirds defend the box much more confidently. By the third year, according to Linda, the monitor of the test site should see bluebirds consistently outcompeting the House Sparrows with the 2-holers. This is what she sees on her trail with Western Bluebirds, and this test is to see if Eastern Bluebirds can indeed outcompete House Sparrows in the same manner in Southwest Virginia along my own trail. FYI, all other locations on my trail have no issues with the HOSPs and HOWRs.
Below is Linda’s website link. Be sure to study it regarding this fascinating subject. You can find Linda’s section on the other TEST sites for the 2-holers and including mine in Woolwine, Virginia, on the main page (link included below) … the stats of my test location in 2009 are now included.
Linda’s main website page: ”Violett’s Bluebirds” http://home
My test site link in Virginia on Linda’s page: http://home.earthlink.net/~lviolett/testwoolwine.html
NOTE: This in no way overwrites or changes my standard of bluebirding on my own trail in Southwest Virginia and using the NABS and Virginia Bluebird Society’s proven methods of success with single-hole boxes, which represent 99 percent of my trail.
More than likely, I will be using the box that has the dark-wood molding (toe-hold). I will keep the other box as a backup, if needed later.
- These holes are a “smidge” slightly larger than the standard size entry hole. Starlings and larger birds should not be able to have access.
- This is the TEST BOX I will use: Again, standard Eastern Bluebird hole size.
RETURN TO THIS SITE’s HOME PAGE: http://woolwinehousebluebirdtrail.com/
I’d advise investing in a sparrowtraps.net sparrow trap. It aids the bluebirds a lot more when you eradicate the local sparrows rather than deterring them. I purchased two in April and have caught over 60 sparrows. Bet at sialis.org recommended them to me and they work! Appeasement and deterring does not. HOSP numbers will only increase without elimination.
By: bill on June 21, 2010
at 4:17 AM
Hi, Bill, thanks for the sparrow trap info. Actually, I’m very well aware of trapping. Please go back and read all the detail on the Two-Holer Test Site page. The purpose of the test is to see if the bluebirds can indeed maintain territorial rights to a nestbox by being able to do so OUTSIDE of a box (able to defend themselves from attack) as opposed to being trapped inside a one-hole standard size nestbox and getting killed by a sparrow. The two-hole mansion test box came from CA and normally used for the Western Bluebird. These two-hole boxes are being tested elsewhere in the U.S. as well. You should visit Violett’s Bluebirds website and read about it. My test started this year, 2010 nesting season. The test site requires I DO NOT TRAP for the test results (3 years) to be completed. This is the ONLY site along my trail I have the House Sparrows. Also it’s important that I mention I cannot trap at this location since it’s a private residence, and I cannot consistently be available to handle trapped sparrows at this location. This makes the two-hole test nestbox a good location because of that reason. I know Bet Z and the Sialis.org site well. Thanks for your note. I would love to hear from you again!
By: Woolwine House Bluebird Trail on June 21, 2010
at 10:59 PM
Hi Christine,
you DO have a great web site. Thanks for the great work you do with BB and also with your site. It’s very educating and nice to return to, from time to time to see your updates. The two- hole version caught my attention, especially since I only do have a few boxes out there and some of them are attracting Tree Swallows. I tried to experiment with a Kinney- box for TRES, but the birds obviously do not like the multiple hole approach. So I turned to 6.5 x 6.5 inches square minimum floor- size plus two entrance holes. This is when I ‘stumbled’into your web- site. I do know that most BB boxes are too small for TRES but yet are occupied by them.
I wonder if the two- hole idea is not bad, at all.
Thanks and happy birding.
Cheers,
Rainer
By: Rainer Rothen on April 28, 2010
at 9:54 PM
Thank you for the note here, Rainer. The test two-holer probably will work for any cavity-nester. You have a very good point about the Tree Swallows. We have Tree Swallows in the area of the test site, but only the House Sparrows are winning over that box at the moment. The TRES don’t seem interested…assuming because the HOSP have taken over the box. The test is to see if the bluebirds can win over the box since they have more of a chance to win the box as long as they are not attacked and killed inside the box (escape hole). We’ll see. This is the first year of a 3-year test. I hope you visit Linda’s page to see her setups with the two-hole mansions for the Western Bluebird.
By: Woolwine House Bluebird Trail on April 29, 2010
at 1:09 PM