Nature Done Wright

Len Vadala of Demarest writes:

We watch our bird feeder every day from our kitchen table window in Demarest, much fun to watch. Our favorite backyard bird is the Carolina Wren.

Right outside our window, about 6-8 feet away, is a wooden birdhouse that I built.

Something very curious is going on, maybe you can explain. The sparrows (English Sparrows) and a pair of downy woodpeckers are now (in January) fighting for the birdhouse.

It’s not nesting season yet, so why the fight?

The woodpecker would go in the house and just stick its head out and defend the house.

Last week the sparrows, two of them were in the birdhouse, and the woodpecker showed up at the house entrance (the female) and tried to peck at the sparrows in the house. The woodpecker then grabbed the sparrows beak. The sparrow pulled the woodpecker (by the beak) into the house (now 3 of them in the house). After a few seconds, the woodpecker fled the house with some of its feathers flying about.

Other than the above fight, the woodpecker & sparrows have been competing for the birdhouse for a few weeks now.

I put a piece of rolled paper into the birdhouse entrance for now, I prefer not to see the sparrows claim my hand-built birdhouse. I made the house for our back-yard indigenous songbirds.

My wife thinks the birds might be using the house at night for shelter. What say you about this whole story?