By Stephen Lang
I’m a retired math teacher, having taught at Madison East and West high schools. My wife and I have lived in the Cherokee Park neighborhood for the past 42 years. We monitor 100 Bluebird houses at Yahara Heights and Token Creek County Parks.
This spring I put up a bluebird house in my neighbor’s yard but put a reducer on the front to make the entry hole smaller to keep house sparrows from taking over the house. House sparrows will enter a house and kill any chicks and even adult birds in order to take over a house. They are an invasive species that was brought to America in the 1860s and now are the most abundant bird in the world.
With the reducer in place, my neighbor could only get nesting chickadees or house wrens. We were both thrilled when she got chickadees! I took photos of the chickadee nest, eggs, chicks, and the box with the reducer and posted them on our neighborhood Facebook page. In the next 3 weeks I installed 16 boxes in the neighborhood. The boxes also provide a shelter for chickadees to roost in during the winter. They do not migrate south like most other birds. The wire cage of the front of the box is made to keep raccoons out.
If anyone would like to get birdhouses for chickadees and house wrens they can contact me. The reducer can easily be removed to make the house available for bluebirds or tree swallows. They would make a wonderful Christmas gift.
Stephen Lang
608 249 5684
Steve asks $25 per box with raccoon guard and $15 for a pole and fence post. No charge for setting it up on the Northside.
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