We attached a robin box on the side of the garage almost a decade ago, but we’ve never been able to coax a robin to build a nest in it. Over the years various birds have tried nesting there, but always give up before laying any eggs. Maybe there’s too much wind flowing between our house and the neighbor’s to make it a good location.
This year a pair of birds built a nest that has stayed put:
You can tell from the design that this nest does not belong to a robin, however. It belongs to this guy.
A pair of House Sparrows has taken over the yard. They act like they own the place. They steal all the peanuts from the peanut feeders and scare other birds from the birdbath. They land on the bird houses and terrorize the chickadees and wrens that have nests inside. I have metal protectors over the holes on those houses, so all they can do is make idle threats at this point.
However, they get their pound of flesh. Every morning at 5 a.m. the male sits in the yew bush next to our bedroom window—which is nowhere near that nest I might add—and cheeps loudly until we awake. I must admit it came in handy over the last couple of weeks when I needed to get up early to take care of my seedlings, but now that all my plants are in the ground, I’d prefer an hour or more of uninterrupted sleep each morning.
Thankfully it doesn’t take long for the eggs to hatch and the babies to fledge. Then hopefully the noisy morning “concerts” will cease.