Hi Tweeters,

I thought I would pass on this bit of information from Terry Whitworth.
He's an entomologist, requested birds nests to analyze for blowflies. I sent
him six of my Violet Green Swallow nests. Of the six I sent him, he found low
numbers of blowfly pupae in two of them and none in the others.
Interestingly, the two infested ones were the ones nearest the vernal pool in
the gravel pit in back of my home.

He told me that the very best way of insuring that your nest boxes are
infested with blowflies next season is to leave the nesting material from
this year on the ground beneath the box. Now, if you are like me, a good
Washinton recycler, you always just empty the box onto the ground beneath the
pole. Right? It's biodegradable, maybe the birds can re use thematerials next
year?? In this case, WRONG. When you empty the box, you're allowing the
larvae stay in close proximity to the nest box, where they can attack baby
birds next year.

So. When you empty your bird boxes, for the birds sakes, dispose of the
nesting material...compost it in a HOT pile to kill the bugs, or even better,
burn it. Trust me, the birds will find plenty of nest material next year.
They don't need recycled bedding!

And be careful when you empty the boxes. I don't think it's a good idea to
inhale that stuff when you open the box, and I always wear gloves when
cleaning bird boxes.

Michelle Blanchard
Littlerock, WA
MBlanchrd at aol.com (the" just gimme your money and don't expect service
Internet server".)