Life and Death in the Backyard

Perhaps my greatest pleasure living in southern Delaware is my back yard.

I live in a development of three quarter acre lots.  I chose my corner lot because it is almost an acre and backs up to a farmer's field.  Beyond the field is Route 1.  I am far enough away from Route 1 that the constant traffic doesn't bother me but is rather like a living panorama.

The real panorama is what goes on in my backyard during the spring and summer months.  I love grow flowers and herbs.  I also love to provide a natural habitat for several native bird species.

I have my back yard lined with three blue bird (or swallow) boxes and one purple martin house.

The past two years I have had bluebirds take up residence in one of the bluebird houses and raise two batches of four baby bluebirds each season.

The blue bird house in contention

Each year I have had to fight the common house sparrow who are a non-native bird species.  The sparrows come in early and take over the bird boxes, fighting off and killing the native species of birds that I am trying provide a home for.

This year the sparrows have been particularly aggressive.  So aggressive that the bluebirds have given up even building a nest in the same box that they built in the past two years.

A pair of swallows is attempting to build a nest in that blue bird box. So far the sparrows have killed one of the swallows.  I came back from an errand one day and checked the box only to have a sparrow fly out of the box, leaving a dead swallow in the box.  That was two weeks ago.

Since then Bill has built a contraption to trap the sparrow in the box.  After I returned from my visit in Pennsylvania he showed me the male sparrow that he caught with a bottle that he put to the door of the bluebird house that he had trapped.  He intended to keep the sparrow for me but the sparrow died in the bottle.  He didn't know why it died because he left the lid ajar for air.  Maybe the bird died from shock that he was caught.  Good.  I was going to twist its neck anyway.

Since then another pair of swallows has been attempting to build a nest but without success.  Last Saturday I was checking one of the other bluebird boxes and I was shocked by what I found.  The sparrows had built a nest but to the side was a dead swallow.  As incredible as it seems, the sparrows were going to raise their young with a dead bird in their box!

I took the dead swallow out of the box and tore out the sparrow nesting.  Below is what happens when you let sparrows take over your bird boxes.

This is the dead swallow in the sparrow nesting.  

The dead swallow before I buried it

Last year I wrote several blogs about my battles with the sparrows.  I never caught one last year but they never did raise any of their young in my backyard.  I lost count of the nest I tore out.  I threw out a total of 19 if the brown speckled sparrow eggs.  I don't have a problem throwing out the sparrow eggs but I don't think I could destroy young sparrows.  I'm not that ruthless.....yet.  

At the present time there is a sparrow nest in one of the purple martin apartments.  I'll wait until they lay their eggs and then I'll take out their nest, eggs and all.  There is a downside to this.  Last year when I tore out one of the nest the sparrow got into one of the purple martin apartment and killed three baby purple martins.

Planter boxes that edge my back yard bull of herbs

I grow a lot of flowers and herbs in my back yard.  The bees and other insects love those plants and, in turn the birds feed off of the insect.  I love sitting out in the early summer evening and watching the purple martins and swallows soar up and down in my back yard catching insects.  I understand some people's concerns for all birds but I will not permit the sparrows to take over my back yard.  They can find somewhere else to raise their young because it won't be in my backyard as long as I live here.

The purple martin house with gourds for the swallows

Bring it On

This morning the battle begins anew with the house sparrows.



Bill told me that the bluebirds were back trying to get into their house that they have built their nests in the past two years. I have three bluebird houses in my backyard. The bluebirds prefer the house that is next to my neighbor Tom’s white PVC fence.

The past two years the bluebirds were able to fend off the sparrows but not this year. I tapped off their house after I came back one day last week and found a dead swallow in the bluebird that the sparrow had killed. I knew the sparrow had killed it because after I returned from work and started to pull open the front of the bluebird house, the sparrow darted out. I looked in the bluebird house and there was the dead swallow, the top of its head bare and bloodied. The poor creature had been pecked to death.

The sparrows started to build their nest in another one of the bluebird houses. I am going to let them build their nest to keep them occupied. My hope was that they would forget about the bluebird house that is next to my neighbor’s fence. Again, I underestimated the determination of the sparrow. As soon as I took the tape off of the box this morning the sparrow was over there checking out the accommodation. And not only that, he was chasing the bluebird away from the other bluebird house that the bluebirds were now checking out.

I had no other choice but to tape up the prime bluebird box. I’m taking a chance in letting the bluebirds and the sparrows fight it out for the other box. I won’t be able to monitor their activity today because I’m going to work this afternoon. But I do have tomorrow off. Thus the battle continues between me and the sparrows. One this is certain. There will be no sparrow eggs hatched on my property this year just as there were none hatched last year.

The bluebirds were able to raise two batches of young bluebirds last year just as they had done the previous year. However, I’m not if they will be able to raise any young this year. The sparrows really seem determined. I think part of the problem is my neighbor on the other side of my property took down his purple martin house to keep the sparrows out. I think I’m getting his overflow.

The sparrows are fighting a losing battle with me. I estimated I threw out about 18 sparrow eggs with their nesting last year. This year I’m going to wring some sparrow necks. My message to the sparrows this year…bring it on.

Hot Monday

Another hot day today. This was one of those rare Mondays I didn't have to work at the hotel. First thing I did this morning was clean out the three sparrow nests in my Purple Martin house. I've been doing this for the past week, daily. Purple Martins are occupying the top three apartment of the six apartment birdhouse but the English Sparrow insists on building nests in the lower three apartments. That's not going to happen. First thing in the morning I tear out the nests. I don't want to have to wait until they lay eggs then tear out their nests but if that is what is necessary, I'll have to do that. The man who put up my Purple Martin house last year did just that. He threw the nest, eggs and all, in the adjoining corn field. The pesky sparrows didn't come back. They got the message....go somewhere else.

I have three blue bird houses. Two have sparrow nests in them which I haven't bothered. They apparently aren't bothering with them either, preferring the Purple Martin house. The third blue bird house is occupied by blue birds as it was last year. There are five perfect blue eggs in their neat nest as I type this blog. Earlier, there was one egg (they lay one a day) but it was taken out by someone and tossed to the ground, punctured. I suspect it was one of the aggressive house sparrows. Fortunately, the blue birds have fought off the sparrows and have been able to lay their five eggs. This same blue bird house last year saw two batches of bluebirds raised. We're off to a good start this year already. I will keep the readers of this blog posted on the progress of the blue birds.

This morning I made my first plant trip to Peppers, a nearby local nursery. This is my favorite time of year, deciding what plants to buy and planting them. At one time when I was much younger I thought I would like to have a house with an in ground swimming pool. How foolish I was. I enjoy nothing better in my doddering old age than fussing around with my raised flowerbeds. It is my favorite past time, maybe even exceeding blogging.

This morning I purchased Roma tomato plants, impatients, sweet alyssum, sage, basil, and lavender plants. This is just the start of my planting season. Most of my perennials have come back from last year. I'm especially pleased with my Knock Out Rose bushes. I'm not sure about my Pampas grass. They're not looking "too pure" (as my Mother always used to say of plants that didn't look like they were going to come back.) I may have to replace them this year. I love the gracefulness of a full Pampas plant but they are a pain to cut back in the spring.

I received more comments on my blogs about my Census address canvasser job. Apparently I'm not the only one who had problems with the lack of training and high pressure of the job. Maybe I'm not the "lazy whiner" after all as one person called me after he/she posted a comment on my blog. Address canvassing for the census is a very hard job and I have all the respect in the world for those who are doing the job but it just wasn't for me. Not enough training, unreliable equipment, too many threats from the area manager, and I just didn't like tramping around strange people's front yards.

This evening was very pleasant. I met two friends in Rehoboth Beach for Mumbo Jumbo night at the Purple Parrot restaurant. Gone was the "Thundering Herd" as my friend Wayne calls them. The "Thundering Herd" are the weekend tourists of descend on Rehoboth Beach and the surrounding beach environs for a weekend of fun in the sun and a posing on the boardwalk. I shouldn't complain about them, they are the bread and butter of we the permanent year round residents. Unless you're into raising chickens in Sussex County, tourism is the only industry east of Route 1 in good old Lower Slower (aka Sussex County, Delaware.) We appreciate them and the money they leave behind but it is nice to travel roads not clogged with belching SUV's loaded down with bicycles, dashboards providing support for flip flopped feet, and dodging their aggressive driving. There is one sign as you enter Rehoboth Beach that says "Slow down, you are at the beach now" (or something like that.) These people need to relax. The ocean isn't going anywhere. They will get a parking spot. They're cool and they know it and they can't wait to show everyone else how cool they are, sauntering down Rehoboth Avenue with their oh so world weary attitudes.

Mumbo Jumbo Night at the Purple Parrot is a pound of char-grilled hamburger for $6.75 with all the fixins. The Purple Parrot is only one of two places that I know of in the Rehoboth Beach/Lewes area that cooks hamburger that tastes like hamburger. All of the other restaurants I've eaten in serve up the frozen, tasteless, overpriced, greasy beef patty delivered by the constant stream of Sysco trucks headed south on Route 1. If you want a good hamburger the only two places I know of are either the Purple Parrot in Rehoboth Beach or Gilligan's Restaurant in Lewes. Don't waste your money or time ordering a hamburger at any of the other restaurants unless you like grease burgers with no taste.

Yes, it was a good day today. Starting with my plants and ending with an enjoyable evening with friends. Nobody telling me what to do, nobody trying to save my soul, nobody putting guilt trips on me. That's one of the reasons why I moved to Delaware, to get away from all those toxic relationships. And I'm doing just fine.

Baby Bird Update

Time for the daily update on the progress of the baby birds in my back yard. The five bluebird eggs have hatched and all the babies seem to be doing fine. All five sparrow baby birds are growing fast. I had a fear that they wouldn't survive the 100 degree temperatures of the past few weeks. On Monday when I checked in on them, their wasn't any sound and very little movement. Today was different. When I opened the front of their bird box they came alive with mouths opened upward, squeaking for food. On the way back, I passed the Purple Martin birdhouse on a pole. I can't check the nests in that six apartment bird house (which includes one of the Determined Sparrows) but they are going about their business. All appears to be as it should be. Another update tomorrow.

Relief

The cool breeze of this morning's air was a welcome relief for the oppressive heat of yesterday. For the past three days heat and humidity laid its heavy hand on this coastal plain of eastern Delaware, with the temperatures reaching 101 degrees yesterday. Summer doesn't officially begin until next week but the Dog Days of August have already descended on this flat land. For the past few days, at high noon, traffic remained light as weary travelers seek relief to escape the suffocating temperatures. Yesterday I checked the Determined Sparrow bird box. The baby sparrows are still in there but only one weakly raised it head . Its beak was open for food, but no sound emanated from it. No movement from the other baby sparrows. This is the same bird box that five baby sparrows drowned during the Nor'easter of last month, just as they were a getting ready to leave their nest. I also checked the bluebird house. Five blue eggs were neatly arranged in a neat nest (in contrast to the haphazard hastily thrown together nature of the sparrow's nest). With the cool and gentle breezes of this early morning accompanying me, I walked over to check the bluebird house. A bluebird darts out of the house just as I take a few steps towards it. At the box, I stand to the side and give it a few light taps. It is important to stand to the side so the bird exiting the box doesn't fly right into me. Nothing. I slowly open the door. What I see is a baby bird naked without its feathers. Obviously this young bluebird just broke out of it shell this morning. Four blue eggs remain, probably to hatch today. My partner told me that he has seen a pair of bluebirds fighting off the starlings yesterday. No doubt they were after the bluebird eggs. However, they can't get to them because the opening of the bluebird box is too small. We will continue to monitor the bluebird box to make sure there are no unwelcome guests. While doing so, we will keep our interference to a minimum so as not to disturb the bluebirds raising their new young. I was concerned that the bluebirds had abandoned their nest. It seemed to me that those bluebird eggs have been there longer than it took both pairs of Determined Sparrows to build their nests several times over, and hatch their young. I am relieved the bluebird eggs are hatching. I'm also relieved that the smothering heat and humidity of the past few days has left us and gone elsewhere. Life is good.

Baby Birds

When we last left my friends, the Determined Sparrows, he and she won when I left them build their nest in one of the six Purple Martin birdhouse apartments. I don't know the status of their nest but I do know that the Purple Martins have occupied the other five apartment and are conducting business as usual. The sparrows fly up to their Purple Martin house nest all day, oblivious to their chirping neighbors, the Purple Martins. As I had mentioned in earlier blog postings, I have three blue bird houses that border my backyard. One of the bluebird houses is occupied by bluebirds and contains five bluebird eggs. The bluebird house in between, has a half finished nest that's been at that status for about three weeks. The remaining bluebird house has a five freshly hatched baby sparrows. Those are the baby sparrows pictured in this blog. I've also included a picture of the bluebird house which they occupy. I briefly opened the bird house to make sure the sparrows were still alive. A few days ago we had a ferocious thunderstorm blow through here in the late afternoon. During an earlier nor'easter, earlier occupants of this same birdhouse were drowned. They were only a few days away from leaving their nest when they died. These days there is a lot of activity in my back yard. The Purple Martins, swallows, sparrows, grackles, bluebirds, and robins. Even a noisey catbird made an appearance this morning. The Word must be out, the Tipton backyard is the place to be. The grasses and plants attract insects which in turn attract the birds to this Garden of Eden. The four birdbaths are in almost continuous use by all the birds. I thank my friends who read my previous blogs and urged me to keep my backyard open to all. That I have done after waging a losing battle trying to keep the sparrows out of the birdhouses they desired. Having done so, I see now that my feathered friends seem to have sorted things out themselves. Good show.

One Determined Sparrow

There has been a compromise of sorts between me and the Determined Sparrow. As soon as I would bring down the pole to the Purple Martin house (a tricky operation, lowering two metal poles without slicing a finger off if one of the poles slips), and tearing out the beginnings of the sparrow nest, the Determined Sparrow would wait until I put the pole back and he would again begin building his nest. He wasted no time. Not a Shy One, this sparrow. After the last nest clean out, I left the door to the apartment opened. The Purple Martin birdhouse has six apartments, two on the bottom and one on the top on the side facing east. On the other side (west), two apartments on the top and one on the bottom. Mr. Determined Sparrow preferred the one on the bottom facing west. I raised the pole again and went to the shed to observe what Mr. Determined would do now. He shot right up into that now garage door opened apartment. He looked up and down and around and then sat there, contemplating his next move. His mate joined him. Both of them sat there in the apartment without a front. Today was very windy. Any nesting placed in the apartment without a front would surely blow away. For most of the day, these two would flit back and forth between that open apartment and the post of an old blue bird house. I left them to do some yard work. As the sun was setting I heard a perky “Chirp! Chirp!” What do my eyes see? I see a little sparrow head peaking out of the blue bird house, looking in my direction, as if to acknowledge that he has accepted my compromise. A few minutes later, I saw a pair of bluebirds sitting on top of the blue bird house across the way from the sparrows' new home. Maybe we all can live together after all. Just not in the Purple Martin house.

Bill Chases Barbara

To take a lighthearted new direction from my recent blog postings, I am posting this video I took about a week ago of my partner Bill playing a joke on our neighbor Barbara. He waited until she took a turn around her and then fell in behind her, walking closely. Look carefully and you'll see Barbara coming around the turn, waving at me taking her video, realizing that Bill is right behind her. Thank goodness she didn't fall off the mower! Now that would have been a video.
As a follow-up to the sparrow drama, this morning my Determined Sparrow was again rebuilding his nest in the Purple Martin house. I, again, tore it out. After I got back from breakfast at Zorba's Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach with Bill, I looked out my sun room window and saw that my Determined Sparrow was now building his nest in one of the blue bird boxes. In fact, it was the box that I found five dead sparrows last week. They had probably died from the heavy rains of the nor'easter. I decided to compromise and let the sparrow build his nest. A few minutes later I saw two sparrows on the landing at the Purple Martin house making whoopee. Obviously time was of the essence. Later, I checked the blue bird house and discovered that the sparrow's nest was almost finished. I will monitor the progress of the nesting sparrows and keep the readers of this blog informed. Again, I have to thank "Happy in Nevada" for her thoughtful suggestion to "make room for all" in my backyard. Thank you Diane.

Eviction Day

Pulling the curtains back from my bedroom window this morning, I could see the sparrow fly up to the Purple Martin house with a couple of strands of straw in its beak. The little bird was determined to make a nest on the southern side of the multi apartment birdhouse. The previous two days I had taken out the sparrow’s nesting material only to see it immediaely fly back to the opening with more dried grass and stalks of small weeds. The Purple Martins swirled about its head, chattering in protest, but the little bird continued building its nest. The determined sparrow was not to be deterred even though it was out numbered. However, I had made my mind up to evict all the sparrows in my birdhouses today, especially the Purple Martin birdhouse which is a communal bird house and not conjunctive to sharing their apartment complex with an outsider like the sparrow. In the morning mist, with a light rain falling, I checked the other four bird boxes that border the acre of land behind my house. Two of the bird boxes had full nests. Both nests contained the brown spotted eggs of the sparrow. Another bird box had the beginnings of a sparrow nest. The fourth bird box, the original bird box that the Birdman had tossed nest and eggs out last Monday, continued to be empty. Perhaps the original occupant of that bird box gave up building its nest in that bird box. Yesterday and early this morning, I saw a pair of blue birds sitting on top of the bird box. Perhaps they were considering making a nest and raising their young. I put on my gloves, and pulled the sparrow’s nests out of both bird boxes, being careful not to break the eggs. Why, I don’t know. My actions seemed contradictory since I was destroying the sparrow's nests. Frank, the Birdman, said to throw the eggs in the brush “for the snakes to eat.” If there were baby birds in the bird boxes, I would have left them alone. After cleaning out the bird boxes I went back inside my house to observe. It didn’t take long until the sparrows came back to the empty bird boxes. I left the doors to the boxes opened, so they would not have the opportunity build new nests. In the misty rain, the sparrows perched on top of the boxes, and hopped down to the now open front of the box to look in and wonder in puzzlement what happened to their nest. I left the fronts of those boxes open the rest of the day. Later in the day, when the rain had stopped, I observed two blue birds dive bombing a furious sparrow who was now trying to make a nest in the original bird box. I immediately went out to that bird box at the far end of my yard. Upon my approach, the sparrow the blue birds flew away. I opened the front and saw the beginnings of a new sparrow nest of straw and dried grass. I tore it out and tossed it aside. I closed the front of the box, and went to the other bird boxes and also closed the fronts. I looked up to the Purple Martin bird house. The Purple Martins were sitting on the ledges outside their apartment bird house, contentedly chattering away. I did not see the sparrow of yesterday who was so furiously determined to build its nest in the Purple Martin house. Maybe they got the message. They are not welcomed in this neighborhood. They will have to go elsewhere to make their nests and raise their young. I came to this conclusion after reading about sparrows and their aggressive nesting habits. Sparrows are not native to the North American continent. One story has it that an Englishman brought over sparrows, along with non-natives birds like the European Starling, in the 19th century to New York City. His purpose was to introduce as many bird species to America as were mentioned in William Shakespeare’s plays. Another story has it that these non native birds were introduced to this continent to control certain insect pests. Of course what happened was the Law of Unintended Consequences. There are millions and millions of sparrows in the North American continent today. Their aggressive nesting habits have almost wiped out the less aggressive American blue bird. I think what really convinced me was the fact that sometimes the sparrow will even kill the bluebird and will build its nest over the top of the still live baby blue birds in their nest, thus killing them. As harsh as it may seem, I made a decision that my acre of land will be a home to the native American species such as the Purple Martin, Barn Swallow and American blue bird. Sparrows, starlings and other non native American species can come to visit, but the blue bird houses that I installed will only be a home for blue birds. The Purple Martin bird house will only be a home for Purple Martins. The gourds that I have hanging from the Purple Martin house will only be a home for Barn Swallows. I equate the sparrow’s aggressive behavior in taking over in the same league as the European explorers who entered the North American continent over 500 years ago and took over from the native Americans. An even more extreme example would be like a biker gang arriving in the development where I live and taking over my house by force just because they are stronger than me. While I believe everyone and everything deserves to live, I do believe there are limits as to where they will live and how much their aggressive behavior is rewarded. On my land I am creating a habitat for certain native American birds. The sparrows can rebuild their nest as many times as they want. In the end, I will prevail. I am bigger. Those birdhouses will either house blue birds or they will be empty. I will be a good landlord. The Birdman would be pleased.