Ha ha, a chubby sparrow is now making a home in my home made gourd wren house.

[a kennedy]

I’ve painted two gourds and left one natural and have hung them for at least 10 years……..the red and natural gourds always get wrens, the yellow one, not so much. My husband just hung the gourds on Monday, and today a chubby sparrow is in the natural one!!!! I don’t know how he got in it….we’ve had the opening small enough so only the wrens could get in them. I wonder if he like putting twigs and grasses in it. I cleaned out the gourds last year and emptied all the sticks and twigs out, is that a good thing to do?? I love watching all the hubbub in Spring of nest building, wrens, sparrows, robins, love it.

[gab13by13]

1. Yes, I read where you are supposed to clean out the old nest.

[Atticus]

2. Wrens don't need a perch stick below the hole. Sparrows prefer one and will sit on it to enlarge

your carefully sized wren hole with their beaks, chipping at it bit by bit.

Wrens are definitely worth any effort it takes to attract them.

Fun fact: the males are often bigamists! If you build a "duplex" with holes on opposite sides of a divided "house", one male will attract a hen for each compartment and bring food to both sides.

[a kennedy]

3. Damn, that is exactly what happened then......my husband put little perches on each of the gourds....

thinking it would be helpful, and yah, helpful for the sparrows. 😀 Well, gonna have to take them off. Thanks.