March 28 through April 22, 1993: Osceola, Indiana
We put up a nest box in the backyard specifically to attract ☆Eastern Bluebird☆, and to my great delight we were successful. My first sighting was of a male and female pair in my own backyard, and they soon moved into the nest box.
April 18, 1993
When I monitored our Bluebird nestbox today, I discovered they had five eggs!
April 22, 1993
I continued to monitor the Eastern Bluebird nest until the eggs hatched, but unfortunately, the chicks never had a chance to fledge. A pair of House Sparrow, probably drawn by the sound of the chicks begging for food, attacked the nest, throwing all the chicks out onto the ground below, and trapping and killing the adult male in the nest box. Witnessing this, and being unable to do anything to help, was heartbreaking. I even tried shooting at the sparrows with our beebee gun, but my aim wasn’t good enough to hit any of the adult birds.
Although the bluebirds were unsuccessful in my own yard, I was encouraged later that summer to see an entire family of adult male and female, plus three fledgling bluebirds hunting for insects in my yard. Apparently, there were some natural cavities in the area, or someone else in our neighborhood also put up a nest box, and those birds were more fortunate. I will say that it took me a long time to get past my resentment of house sparrows, who continued to use that nest box. As an invasive species, I know it’s not their fault that they are here, but I hated this whole situation a lot. From time to time I considered taking down the next box, but feared that would cause the newly-evicted sparrows to throw another family of bluebirds or swallows out of their home.
Species List
Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis sialis), House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Let me know what you think!