House Sparrow vs. House Wren vs. Entrance Reducer

A friend gave Mary a small-bird birdhouse, which immediately attracted the attention of a pair of House Wrens:

The vertical black bar is a DIY Birdsaver cord.

The entrance hole was 1-½ inch ⌀, a bit larger than the 1 inch ⌀ preferred by wrens and entirely suitable for the pair of House Sparrrows who also took an interest in the property:

This led to considerable discussion and displays of outright hostility:

Sparrows and wrens disagree on nestbuilding materials, with the wrens hauling twigs into the box and sparrows hauling them back out again.

Because wrens have better PR agents than sparrows, I intervened by taking the box apart:

Although I realize that’s a lot of work for a small bird, I dumped the contents off the patio and set about reducing the entrance hole:

Because birds aren’t too fussy about looks, I sawed off half an inch of 1 inch (ID) CPVC pipe and glued it in the hole:

The outside looks marginally better:

The sparrows continued to approach the hole at full throttle, deploying landing gear and speed brakes at the last possible moment:

But they no longer fit through the hole and eventually gave up trying. The wrens resumed hauling twigs, although we’re not certain they’ll finish the project, as birds tend to build several partial nests before selecting the final one.

We hope this will end on a happier note than last year’s Wreath Robins.