I heard a Red-bellied Woodpecker calling as I walked our dog through Hillside Cemetery in Norwich at 7 am this morning. The bluebird nest there fledged 5 young last Sunday. The other box had a Tree Swallow nest with one egg on Tuesday, and the female was sitting inside on Wednesday when I peered in (I assumed laying a second egg). Yesterday, however, there were no eggs, and I heard a House Wren singing in the vicinity. The nest itself is very skimpy, with fewer materials than normal and no feathers. This morning the swallow pair was duking it out with a male wren, and I noticed that several twigs had been added to the nest. There has never been a wren nest in either box during the 10 years I've been monitoring this site. House Wrens are notoriously fierce competitors for nest cavities, and they will remove or destroy eggs of other species like swallows or bluebirds. I can't help hoping the swallows will prevail at Hillside, but I'm not optimistic... Chris -- Chris Rimmer Vermont Center for Ecostudies P.O. Box 420 Norwich, VT 05055 802-649-1431 ext. 1 http://www.vtecostudies.org **************************************************************** To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. To contact the list owner: [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Web based archives and subscription management are available at: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html ****************************************************************