If you will remember, Kathy Krum is a teacher from Lincoln Elementary in Cedar Lake. They put up several boxes a few years back and the kids enjoy helping monitor these boxes. We think this is great for the kids to learn!!! This is what Kathy wrote this fall: “As you can see by our stats, the house sparrows really kept us busy this year! They are certainly a very determined bird, but so were we. It did pay off since this was our highest year fledging bluebirds. The students as always were very enthusiastic. If it was up to them they would be checking the boxes every day. What a wonderful way to teach children about the environment and learning the needed skills in the Indiana standards.”

We received a report from Jan Tellstrom at Smock Golf Course, just South of Indianapolis. As you remember, we had our Picnic at Smock in the Spring of this year. Here is a recap of all the successful wildlife babies there this year. Purple Martins—–40 fledged, Bluebirds—–17 fledged, Tree Swallows——236 fledged, Wrens—–49 fledged, Killdeer—–approximately 20 nests and approximately 80 fledged, Barn Swallows——40 fledged, Canada Geese——4 families with a total of 16 Goslings, Mallard Ducks—–6 families with 34 Ducklings counted, 1 Hard Shelled Turtle approximately 10 to 12 pounds, was observed laying eggs in the Southeast corner of the driving range on Wednesday May 26, 1 Gray Snake about 2 ft. long, was observed on June 2 near the stream on hole #8, 7 small Rabbits seen around 3 of the nature areas on June 18, 3 Blue Herons were seen several times during the season, and 1 White Heron was seen for 2 days early in September, 7 Red-winged Blackbirds were observed on March 24 in the nature area on hole #13. We want to thank Jan and all the other fine people who work to keep Smock Golf Course a beautiful, wildlife friendly Golf Course. Keep up the good work!

Arthur Petty is from Covington and it seems like he had many troubles with sparrows this year. “I had 10 nestboxes used by sparrows this year—–many repeat attempts were made but I cleaned them all out. I did manage to catch many sparrows while doing nest checks. Some bluebird eggs had small holes pecked in them—–presumably by wrens and I also had 4 that were infertile. Several times eggs were laid but were gone the next week, sometimes there were broken eggs on the ground or in the nest and other times there were no eggs shells found at all?” Editors note: It sounds like the sparrows and wrens did some real damage to your nesting attempts this year. I believe that sometimes the sparrows or even wrens will get the eggs in their mouth and carry them off somewhere, so a person may not have any idea what happened.

Leroy Johnson is from Hudson and monitors 9 boxes, one of which is a tree-branch box. This is what he wrote: “The tree branch I used as a trap! There were 16 sparrows that loved it!”

Mary Ault is from LaPorte and has also been discouraged by the sparrows…..she writes: “I watched bluebirds attempting to claim a box, but the sparrows continually kept pestering them, until the bluebirds got discouraged and left. I want bluebirds so much! What can I do to discourage sparrows? I closed some of the boxes in September, and plan to reopen them in February. Will this help?” Editors note: Closing the boxes when the nesting season is over will sometimes keep the sparrows from using them all winter long for various reasons. You may even keep them closed until the middle of March and see if that helps. You might also try one of Steve Gilbertsons PVC Boxes, advertised in this newsletter on Page 11. They really do discourage the sparrows but are not sparrow proof. Good Luck

Becky Holcomb and her daughter Suzanne are from Elkhart. They were thrilled this year with the results in their own backyard: My daughter Suzanne and I monitor these boxes together. Eighteen of them are located at the Elkhart Environmental Center and two are in our backyard. We live in a subdivision on a half-acre lot. The PVC box is at the edge of my garden, about 25 feet from my house. We were thrilled to fledge 5 bluebirds

from that house this year. We have been monitoring the boxes at EEC since mid-summer 2001. We have had successful tree swallows there, but this was our first year to have successful bluebirds. We thought you might find it interesting that late summer, 2003, Suzanne built slot boxes for the EEC for her Girl Scout Silver Award Project. She replaced 7 old style nestboxes with the new slot boxes. We also added predator guards to many of the nest box posts. Editors Note: That just proves that we can’t ever give up even when it seems that maybe it won’t happen! Becky doesn’t say how old Suzanne is, but we assume she is still fairly young….10 to 13??? It is great that you have such an interest in our feathered friends! Keep up the good work!!

Beck Lomax is from Indianapolis and here is what she writes: “ In 2003 I started banding nestling Tree Swallows and Bluebirds. To my delight, 2 banded female tree swallows returned to nest this year in boxes adjacent to their fledging box. I was able to pick them up from the eggs they were incubating and read their band numbers. It was most rewarding to know that they returned to the area that they had fledged from!”

Dale Harber from Yoder had a perplexing situation, which many of us do. “A pair of bluebirds showed up late. They might be gone a couple of days, but would then return. (I assume it was the same pair). Finally, after normal fledging time would be, they decided to build a nest. No eggs were ever laid. After about 3 weeks, the female disappeared. The male hung around a few more weeks and then he also disappeared. Inexperienced newlyweds? It’s anybody’s guess. Editors Note: Yes, it is really hard to say what the situation could be. Possibly she found another mate?? It is just pretty hard to say, but if they were a young pair, they may be back in the Spring. Please don’t give up!

Charles and Abigail Stitts are from Greensburg and she writes: “A raccoon successfully raided a box with 6 eggs, and it won’t happen again! Also, The Lake Santee, Oneida Trail Children again had a lemonade stand for the benefit of the bluebird house at our nature habitat. However, it was taken over by bees and wasps and then by a thief!!! Ugh! But, we’ll try again! Editors Note: Yes, do try again with the lemonade stand that is a great idea! As far as the raccoons go, we have had that happen to us a couple of times. Most recently, I thought the box was well protected from the coons, but what I failed to think about was the surrounding area. The box was mounted next to a small hill, with a big rock protruding out from the hill, and evidently the coon was able to get on the rock and then climb onto the box. I guess we live and learn, sometimes the hard way.

Ken & Caren Jankowski are from Valparaiso, and continue to battle the sparrows: “Sparrows are still the biggest problem. I’m retired now and will try and find the time to set traps for them and be rid of at least some of the sparrows. I know when I have done this in the past, it really helped for a couple years. Had one raccoon get to a box this year. The PVC guard I had was too short and he pulled himself up. But he could only get the bluebird half out for his wings were caught in the hole. Upon looking at the bluebird, its feathers were all off its head meaning a sparrow had also got to this bird. I happened to have my digital camera with me and took pictures. The boxes I had ants in I cleaned out and applied Tree Tanglefoot (pest barrier). This kept the ants out of the boxes and the bluebirds did great!”

Thank you to all who submit their personal experiences.