[wisb] Re: House Sparrow in Chickadee nest box

  • From: korducki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • To: anna.ftw@xxxxxxxxx, "Anne Moretti" <amoretti@xxxxxxxxx>, "WisBirdn" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:40:12 +0000

Good advice by Ann. Just for others who may build bird houses, House Sparrows 
can fit in a bird house with a one and one fourth inch opening. We built a lot 
of them when I was a kid and the House Sparrows can easily get into openings 
that small. One and one eighth will keep them out. The one inch opening we used 
for wren houses did allow chickadees to get in. 
Mark Korducki, New Berlin
Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

-----Original Message-----
From: Anna Keaney <anna.ftw@xxxxxxxxx>
Sender: wisbirdn-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:01:41 
To: Anne Moretti<amoretti@xxxxxxxxx>; WisBirdn<wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: anna.ftw@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [wisb] Re: House Sparrow in Chickadee nest box

Thanks for the tips, folks. I ended up doing what Anne suggested: got the
metal portal at Wild Birds Unlimited and put it on. I checked and no one
has started nesting yet: they've just been checking it out, apparently.
This is our first spring with the box, so I'm hoping _someone_ nests in it.
Last summer we had a House Wren (very loudly) make a dummy nest in it, but
that's it. Come on, chickadees!
Anna Keaney
Madison, Dane

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 11:52 AM, Anne Moretti <amoretti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Anna,
>
> The easiest thing to do if the hole has been enlarged, is to buy a 1-inch
> opening metal portal that can be screwed to the box around the opening. You
> should be able to find these (in various sizes) at the Wild Birds Unlimited
> store in the Madison/Middleton area. House Sparrows need a 1 1/2 -inch
> opening, as do Bluebirds, which is why they are considered such pests.
> Whatever you do, don't allow the House Sparrows to nest! They are very
> aggressive and will kill other birds if they want the box badly enough.
>
> Anne Moretti
> Dousman
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wisbirdn-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wisbirdn-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Anna Keaney
> Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 9:04 AM
> To: WisBirdn
> Subject: [wisb] House Sparrow in Chickadee nest box
>
> We put up a nest box a week or so ago and have seen both chickadees and
> House Sparrows going inside it. I'm not sure either in particular has
> claimed it yet (although today the sparrow was in it a couple of times).
> This box was bought last summer as a chickadee-wren box, but I think our
> woodpeckers have widened the hole, drat them. I've been reading different
> things saying take the box down entirely, or just replace the panel with
> one with a smaller hole, or just check the nest and remove it if it's a
> sparrow nest (this is hard to do because the box opens from the bottom, not
> top)... I thought I'd ask if anyone had any "best practice" info on this?
> Thanks!
> Anna Keaney
> Madison, Dane
>
>
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