Michael & Liz are Bloggable

Wow, it's been a long time, but I'm back... for now.

You probably thought this would be an update on Liz and I, it's not, this is an update on the bluebirds. We had 4 fledge at the end of May and we were thrilled about it. They all survived which apparently is rare. The second they left the nest, I cleaned it out and that was crazy gross. There were around 50 beetles buried at the bottom of the nest. We don't know how they got down there, it was either the birds plan to hoard bugs or the bugs plan to stay warm at night. Maybe they were working together and the bugs signed a lease for the bottom half of the house. Either way, the bugs were all bagged up and thrown away the day after the birds fledged.

We were hoping that the bluebirds were not done for the year because I read they tend to have 2 or 3 broods a year. Thank goodness they aren't. About a week ago we found that the Mom and Dad bluebirds began to build a new nest in our house. They wasted no time setting it up and laid their first egg a couple days later and this morning we found a second egg.

I don't know if anyone remembers (or cares) but I mentioned at one point in a previous post that a small bird had threatened the nest and the mom and dad bluebirds were dive bombing that small bird to get it away. I thought this was cute, however according to some information I found, these small birds were house sparrows and are vicious killers. This is unacceptable and we (Liz and I) will not tolerate vicious killers of any species. So this time around we have taken action.

I found this website which is basically just an encyclopedia on bluebirds. If you care, check it out. But what I found there is a way to scare these house sparrows away and I have put this device into place. Readers, meet the sparrow spooker. Today at lunch I put this up. It's made out of some ribbon that Liz gave me. I tried to straighten the ribbon but it's still a bit curly. Hopefully it will scare the house sparrows away, protect the nest when we aren't home, and also not deter the bluebirds from continuing to nest in our house.

Liz took a picture of our device, check it out:


This is just a shameless plug, but beginning in the month of July (once I build a workbench for myself) I am going to start mass producing these birdhouses to start selling them. The wood will be better quality (not thick plywood) and I may stain them as well so they hold up better. If you are interested in purchasing one, let me know. The price will depend on how much the wood costs me... I'm thinking roughly $30 a house. It is well worth the pleasure we have gotten from it and also bluebirds are good for the environment... so go green and buy a birdhouse.