Attach a block of wood with a 1.5 inch hole over the
"general boxes". This size hole is still big enough
for chickadees and swallows, but will exclude the
<explicative deleted>.

As for the flicker box... I don't think urban flicker
boxes are consistently successful enough to justify.
Though we were awakened this morning to the sound of
one rapping on a roof vent on our house.

Jpsdiver at aol.com wrote:
>
> After reading several comments about starlings and h.sparrows I'm growing
> concerned about my nest boxes. This is my 3rd year of serious birding and I
> have five nest boxes in my yard. One for n.flicker, which flickers and
> starlings are showing a lot of interest in. One for Green Swallows. Three,
> are an "all purpose" box with about a 2 inch opening. The sparrows and
> chickadees are showing interest, especially the sparrows. At any given time I
> have about 3 to 5 Starlings in my yard and maybe the same amount of sparrows.
> I also have an abundant amount of other species of birds.
> My question, finally, what should I do about the three "all purpose "
> boxes? I was thinking of decreasing the opening so the sparrows could not
> enter. Since I've been birding I have had no increase in sparrow activity and
> have seen no aggressive behavior, not yet. Comments much appreciated!
>
> Jeff Smith
> jpsdiver at aol.com
> Parkland,WA.

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html