Hi All,
It was one of the best mornings in memory in our Beacon Hill backyard and
adjacent neighbors yards, one of which contains an Eastern Maple with a long
history of attracting migrants. There were a minimum of two singing Warbling
Vireos, a minimum of two Western Wood Pewees, several Wilson's Warbler, a
heard Yellow Warbler, a heard Pacific Slope Flycatcher, the usual Goldfinch
and Siskin chomping on thistle seed, the nesting Violet Green Swallows and
nesting Chickadees, (which are using a swallow box) another Chicadee family
that already had a fledgling, and the male Barn Swallow who is guarding the
front porch but who hasn't found a female yet.
Then a life-yard bird, a very svelte female Macgillivray's Warbler, came by to
take a bath in one of the backyard ponds.

In answer to Michelle's post about House Sparrows taking over Violet Green
Swallow boxes, I think a 7/8 x 3" rectangular hole will keep out the
Sparrows as ours has for at least four years now. At the risk of sounding
like I'm trying to advertize my boxes again (actually, Garden Goodies' boxes),
however, I recommend a hole cut with a bandsaw not a jigsaw. When I played
handyman and made my own boxes with a jig saw, a few wiggles or the imprecise
angle of the blade made the hole probably 1/64 th or so larger than the 7/8 it
was supposed to be and I had sparrows immediately.

In any case a piece of wood with the right size hole nailed to the front
should save those boxes, I would think.


--Ed Newbold, Tweeter by Digest, urban residential Beacon Hill, Seattle,
newboldwildlife at netscape.net




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