Great catch Mike! Its so nice to see them doing so well.❤ Thank you for sharing this video!

Thanks, Mike, for taking the time to share this.

Awe…love it! 😊❤

Hi again Mike! My bb nestlings are 10 days old now and I’m worried about removing my wren guard in fear the wren will come and kill them. When would you suggest I remove it when there are house wrens in area? The first two egg clutches were destroyed by a wren. I moved my box and bb nested this third clutch, one egg was destroyed before I got the wren guard up. It’s been hard helping to keep them safe. But so far they’ve been okay with the guard on. Any advice?

@mikeyoungsbackyardwildlife2906

Ай бұрын

Hi! Actually, wren guards usually don't do much good once the wren has found the nest and attacked it previously. That's because it already knows where the opening is, so hiding it doesn't help. So it's a pleasant surprise that it has worked so far! I'm not sure what the correct answer is. I think wrens usually go after eggs, not nestlings. If that's the case, you could remove the guard any time now, especially if it's making it hard for the parents to feed the nestlings. But if the parents are ok with the wren guard, I'd leave it on until just a couple of days prior to fledging -- maybe 3 days, say day 14 or 15 to be safe. I don't have a wren guard, so I don't know how hard it is to install or remove it, but when you do remove it, you will want to be careful to not scare the nestlings into premature fledging. How hard that is will depend on how the guard is attached. It's not a good idea to open a bluebird nestbox after about day 12, as it can cause premature fledging. If you have to open the box to remove the guard, you should do it sooner rather than later. Sorry I can't be more specific, this is an area that I don't have as much experience with. The first year I had a house wren attack, the bluebirds took out their revenge on the him directly, and he never came back. This year I've had two wrens try to take over the nest box while it was empty, and I was able to discourage them. But the bluebirds may have abandoned the nest anyway -- No new nest building since the first brood fledged. 😞

@brendalins1237

Ай бұрын

@@mikeyoungsbackyardwildlife2906 thank you, I greatly appreciate your advice!! Luckily I don’t need to open the box to remove the guard and there is a lot of space between the entry hole and guard so parents are not having any trouble feeding. I think I’ll wait just another couple days to remove it out of caution. Thanks again!!