“Helping Bluebirds and Other Small Cavity Nesters Survive and Thrive”

January 20, 2022 12:10 PM

Sialis.org is a web 1.0-style site full of information about bluebirds and other small cavity nesters. That’s it!
posted by Going To Maine (5 comments total)

Glad to learn my mom's technique for snapping sparrow necks made it on the considered humane list. Her "cervical dislocation" skills were kinda scary.
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 1:17 PM on January 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this wealth of information! Not one, but two pairs of bluebirds have chosen our yard the past two summers, despite resident feral cats. We enjoy them so much, and have wondered how we can support them (short of destroying the cats. I know.) There's lots of good advice in here. Bonus: Spring is just around the corner!
posted by probably not that Karen Blair at 1:29 PM on January 20, 2022

I have a hedge that is simply filthy with house sparrows. Last spring they killed the robins that had nested in my porch (non destructively). The neighbors feed them, and I feel like I am starting to sound like the kid from Ozarks - so it’s great to have some useful advice for managing sparrows.
posted by zenon at 8:11 AM on January 21, 2022

Clarification: the robins were non destructive. Just a cute little nest up in the porch rafters. Right next to the bbq in a high traffic area and they’ve been there three seasons now, so it must work for them. Except for the damn sparrows.
posted by zenon at 8:17 AM on January 21, 2022

snapping sparrow necks...

This poem by Ron Koertge immediately springs to mind.

Not long after hearing this poem read on the podcast, I was at home when a small bird flew into a window and plopped to the ground. It was wriggling on the ground. Oh no, I thought, I'm going to have to break its neck. I went out and picked the bird up ... and it flew out of my hands and away. I think about this a lot.
posted by neuron at 9:05 AM on January 21, 2022