I came home Friday from work and it was still daylight and there was quite a bit of bird activity in the back yard. It donned on me that I should check our bluebird house. I got very excited that there was this twig hanging out of the opening and brought it down from the tree. Every time I've checked before it's been empty and there's just been dirt and occasionally a random feather. When I opened it, I was shocked. This huge nest was inside:
There were no eggs or creatures in there but I was just fascinated. I did some searching on the internet and unfortunately this picture almost matches perfectly the kind of nests house sparrows build when they take over bluebird houses. Plus, I have seen sparrows around a lot lately.
Apparently, the house sparrow (HOSP) is quite invasive and is a non-native species. People who want to attract bluebirds are quite adamant about ridding boxes of these nests....I think I even read on one of the websites: "It is better to not have a box at all then to let the house sparrow reproduce in one." It seems that they are the bluebirds' biggest competitors and will attack adult bluebirds. There are a lot of people who are quite protective of bluebirds! Since it's non-native, there are no laws preventing people from removing (or even destroying) the nests, eggs or birds themselves. I don't think I could actually ever kill a bird but I felt better knowing there were no eggs that I was harming. I went ahead and removed this nest because I read that the sparrows can nest other places just fine so they don't even need the houses, they just like to evict the bluebirds. Well, I have one daddy sparrow that's going to be livid that I removed his wonderful creation -- I'll have to check probably a couple more times that they don't come back. But the nest itself came out in one piece so Derek is taking it to his class for "show and tell."
Internet pictures show that bluebird nests are not this tall - only 1-4 inches, and with no 'tunnel'. This one went all the way to the top. There wasn't as much "trash" used in the nest as one might expect with the sparrow, mostly twigs, feathers, some dryer lint/pillow stuffing and one teeny fragment of cloth.
Also, notice how the mouth of the nest is at the top and actually is like a tunnel....the picture below is the nest from the back and you can see where the eggs might have been at the bottom of the nest.
While the sparrows might not be as happy, I'm hoping it's not too late for bluebirds to use the box...come on over bluebirds, the inn is vacant!
Here's the third sparrow's nest I've removed from the bluebird box. They are quite persistent little guys. This is after two days ... and inside there was actually an egg! Sorry, but the nest and still got removed (the nest and egg are being sent with Derek again to his school for part 2 of show and tell)...I'm sure the sparrow egg kidnapping violates the spirit of Earth Day somehow - but I'm still holding out for my bluebirds! I keep telling the sparrows that they can be around and lay their eggs, just NOT in the bluebird house!
