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Lauren Messinger
Hummelstown, PA, United States
This pair of Eastern Bluebirds hung out around this birdhouse last summer, giving me a chance to photograph them.
Category 7: Birds of a Feather Stick Together
Bluebird Home
A lovely photo! It looks like a round piece of wire/line is hanging in front of the entrance hole. Is that the case and if so, what is it for? I maintain a few nest boxes for Eastern Bluebirds so your photo piqued my interest. Thanks!
Thank you! What you noticed are short pieces of fishing line. After House Sparrows evicted several pairs of birds from my boxes I did some research and tried this idea to keep them away. I didn’t really expect it to work, but after I put it up the sparrows could not land at the entrance hole and the bluebirds (as well as swallows and other natives) weren’t bothered by it. I still don’t know exactly why this worked; one theory I’ve heard is that the sparrows cannot see the line and think it is a spider web…
I will have to give this a try! Our bluebirds were having trouble with an aggressive House Sparrow last summer. It chased them away from both the boxes in their territory as they were trying to start their third nesting attempt. I have been pondering my next move as to how to prevent the same from happening this year and am grateful to find that there is such a simple solution.
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