Linda,

Below is web page on bird house openings designed to keep sparrows out.

Good birding,

Dan Victor, Seattle, WA mailto:dcv at scn.org
Violet-green Swallow House
http://www.scn.org/tweeters/VGSWhouse.html

On Mar 26, 2006, at 7:29 AM, Linda Bainbridge wrote:

> I'm hoping someone can give me advice on this.
> When I first moved to Whidbey Island two years ago, a pair of
> Violet-green Swallows successfully nested in the attic of my house,
> gaining access through a vent hole with?broken screening. ?The
> following year, I repaired the screening and put up a nest box in in
> the same location on the side of the house.?A pair of swallows
> successfully nested in it, and another pair used another box we put up
> on the opposite side of the house.
> Here's the problem:? a few days ago I noticed that at least four House
> Sparrows, a species?we almost never see on our property, were
> beginning to use the boxes.? So far, I've filled the entrance holes
> with steel wool, hoping the sparrows will move on and that I can open
> up the holes when the swallows start arriving.? But I don't know if
> that will work.? I read on the internet that house sparrows will kill
> swallow nestlings.
> By the way, I always put out black-oiled sunflower seeds and suet,
> which attract about 20 species of birds, none of them objectionable.?
> But as spring approaches, I start seeing cowbirds, starlings, and now
> house sparrows.?? I also suspect that the seeds are supporting a
> healthy rat population.? Maybe if I stopped feeding the birds, the
> citified interlopers would stay away?
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