Thursday May 23 Peggi Rodgers writes:

>.....with this stupid sparrow.

>Before I take the nest box down, however, I have a couple of questions.

>1. How long do I have to leave the box down before the house sparrow will
>forget about it?

>2. He has no mate. How long will he continue to defend a box/territory if
>he doesn't get one?

My guess is that if you take down the box with the expectation of putting
it back up, that the sparrow or a different sparrow will quickly discover
that it is back. If the bird begins a nest elsewhere while you have the
box down then that plan might work, but the swallows might also nest
elsewhere. I think the sparrow will attempt to interest a potential mate
for at least several days.

It might help to just harrass the sparrow when you can so it will have
less inclination to want to use the box. This has worked for me although
it took several days and the swallows were also actively battling for the
box, too. Later in the season the house finches were also trying to evict
the swallows but they held their own.

Good luck!

Ed Schulz
Everett, WA
eschulz at eldec.com