Tree Sparrow Nestbox - best diameter for access hole (1 Viewer)

[Mícheál]

Hi,

I am about to install ten beautifully made (not by me) Tree Sparrow nestboxes in prime habitat where there is a small local breeding population and a significant House Sparrow population. The access hole diameter on these boxes is 28mm as specified by me and as recommended by the BTO nestbox guide. Can anyone on the forum tell me:

- is 28mm definitely the best size for Tree Sparrow - it looks TINY in real life!

- if 28mm is the best size, can they access the box through such a small hole from flight without a perch, or should I insert a perch on each one?

Any help appreciated. Tree Sparrows are extremely scarce in our part of the world, and providing nest sites might help them struggle on a while longer.

Many thanks for any advice.

Mícheál

 

[Capercaillie71]

I had a pair of tree sparrows nesting in my garden last year in a box with a 28mm hole and no perch, so yes they do work. I thought the hole looked too small when I made the box too!

 

[Tree Sparrow]

Yes, 28mm and no perch worked for the tree sparrows in my garden too. It'll stop the house sparrows taking them over as they need a bigger hole.

Hope you have some success with them.

TS

 

[Mike Shurmer]

We use boxes with 28mm holes for tree sparrows on local farms. Try putting clusters of them in loose colonies (eg each box a couple of metres apart). No need for perches.

If you have a local colony in trouble then nest boxes may not be enough and I would think about whether you can set up winter feeding stations on local farms. Depends on your situation.

SC

 

[Mícheál]

28mm it is then!

Thanks so much for the reassurance. One more coat of varnish and these are ready to go. Too late for spring 2010, but I will get them up while the enthusiasm is still fired up!

Thanks again,

Mícheál

 

[Mícheál]

We use boxes with 28mm holes for tree sparrows on local farms. Try putting clusters of them in loose colonies (eg each box a couple of metres apart). No need for perches.

If you have a local colony in trouble then nest boxes may not be enough and I would think about whether you can set up winter feeding stations on local farms. Depends on your situation.

SC

Thanks Stoned Curlew, very good points.

We have a few different situations.

Tree Sparrows only cling on here as a few small groups of breeding birds along the coast in exposed farmland (mainly pasture, almost no arable agriculture here. In one place there seems to be a reasonable population based around a livestock farmyard - highest count 13 individuals recently. In a couple of other locations single birds & pairs have been recorded, and in one, up to five birds are coming to a feeding station in a rural garden. This over maybe thirty miles of coast

I think you are absolutely correct in your suggestion that there are a range of factors, but nestboxes are a very simple initial way to build up a relationship with a landowner, and nest sites seem to be a factor, with competition from House Sparrows as a complicating factor. We will focus on the two sites with reasonable populations, but try to support the smaller ones too. We would hope to provide some supplementary feed where appropriate, although the farm and the garden groups appear to be doing quite well as regards food.

This is a relict population, and highly precarious. The odds are probably against us. This population was thought to be extinct for several years, so their re-discovery in recent years has spurred a few of us to do something about it, but the only resources we have are our own.

Thanks for the advice, I may well be back for more!


Mícheál

 

[Tree Sparrow]

28mm it is then!

Thanks so much for the reassurance. One more coat of varnish and these are ready to go. Too late for spring 2010, but I will get them up while the enthusiasm is still fired up!

Thanks again,

Mícheál

Not necessarily too late for this Spring. I didn't get my boxes up last year until late March and one was occupied successfully. I'm pretty far north which might make a difference but I'd definitely say get them up asap you could be lucky!

TS

 

[Mícheál]

Not necessarily too late for this Spring. I didn't get my boxes up last year until late March and one was occupied successfully. I'm pretty far north which might make a difference but I'd definitely say get them up asap you could be lucky!

TS

That's encouraging!

They are going up this week.

We are spreading our bets, putting up 1-4 boxes in each of four sites where birds have either been seen this spring or have bred in the last two years

Mícheál