In a message dated 1/28/07 12:03:12 AM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Tom: In your reply to Paul about the former kestrel nesting boxes at the Wilds you wrote: > Why didn't you erect a couple of nestboxes? I have erected Kestrel > nestboxes at The Wilds and it appears I need to do so again. I live only a > few miles north of The Wilds. As one who monitors cavity nesting birds (bluebirds, tree swallows, purple martins, Carolina chickadees and house wrens) I feel that just putting up a nest box is not enough. Once nest boxes have been erected, it is the *monitoring* of the nesting site which is important. In my case, I am constantly patrolling for house sparrow invasions in my smaller boxes, plus starling interference with the martins. I don't know if house sparrows or starlings are a problem in the Wilds and AEP lands or not. Bees and wasps will take over nest boxes, too, as reported in the Wilds boxes, and if not removed will prevent use of the box by the target species. I don't think it was right for you to take Paul to task for not investing time and money in putting up nest boxes he couldn't monitor. If you have the knowledge, skills, and time to put up nest boxes and monitor them, great! But please, don't admonish others for not doing the same. ~Kathi Kathi Hutton Felicity, Clermont Co. Delorme pg 82, B3 Lat. 38.828, Lon. -84.063 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]