Recommended Tools

Another popular style of nest box is the Gilbertson Bluebird House, which is made of thin PVC pipe. This box has a shallow 4 1/2 inch drop from the bottom of the entrance hole to the floor, and a small, round nesting cavity with a 4 1/4 inch diameter. These two factors are designed to make the nest box less attractive to house sparrows.

If you have a bluebird house that is set up in an ideal location for bluebirds but that still receives a lot of attention from house sparrows, try swapping your regular nest box with a Gilbertson bluebird house. It might be enough to deter the sparrows. Click here to get a Gilbertson Bluebird House from Amazon.

Note: The Gilbertson Bluebird House is only recommended for Eastern Bluebirds. For Mountain and Western Bluebirds, I recommend using the wooden nest box above, and removing the predator guard to reveal the larger entrance hole.

Mealworms are a fantastic treat to feed bluebirds all year round. You can offer them during the summer breeding season when bluebirds are feeding their young, and also during the winter when insects are harder to come by. This Cedar Hanging Mealworm Feeder from Kettle Moraine Woodworking is the best tool I’ve seen on the market for feeding live mealworms to bluebirds.

The dual entry holes on the sides will allow bluebirds to enter, but they’ll keep larger birds, like robins, from entering and stealing your precious mealworms. Plus, you can enjoy watching your birds through the see-through side windows. Click here to check the current prices on Amazon for this feeder.

When you’re supplementing bluebirds’ diet with other food sources, live mealworms are by far the best choice. They’re nutritious, similar to their natural diet of insects, and bluebirds really love them! (The above photo shows a male eastern bluebird devouring two mealworms at once.)

You might be able to find live mealworms at your local bait shop, but I’ve found that buying them in bulk online is a more affordable option.

Click here to order live mealworms from Chewy.com. This is the most affordable and convenient option I’ve found for getting live mealworms. Plus, they’ll deliver them right to your doorstep!

Photo by watts_photos is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Dried mealworms are another feeder option that will work all year long for bluebirds.

My dad in Indiana feeds his bluebirds tons of dried mealworms during the winter right on a platform feeder. But you can also offer these in a hanging mealworm feeder or mixed in with suet in a suet feeder. Click here to order

Suet is a congealed fat product that is mixed with seeds and used to feed many common feeder birds, especially during the winter months. You might think that suet won’t attract bluebirds because of its high seed content, but it can! The trick is to get the right kind of suet.

There is a suet “alternative” that I recently found that works extremely well for bluebirds: “Seed + Mealworm Cakes.”

When I put out one of these Katee Seed & Mealworm Treat Cakes this winter, I was shocked at how fast a male bluebird found it and started feasting! It’s a mixture of dried mealworms, hulled sunflower seeds and a few other seeds, held together with honey and gelatin. This block of bluebird food fits nicely in a platform feeder, hanging bluebird feeder, or suet feeder. You can order these treat cakes on Chewy.com here.

Offering a natural water source is a great way to attract bluebirds and other birds to your backyard. While I don’t currently own a birdbath, the one I’m considering buying is the GESAIL Heated Outdoor Terracotta Birdbath.

This birdbath contains a heating element to keep the water from freezing in winter, and three different options for hanging the bath (from a tree, from a deck, or on the ground). This heated birdbath is also about half the price of other similar birdbaths on the market. You can get one of these birdbaths on Amazon here.

A “sparrow spooker” is a tool that can be used to effectively deter house sparrows from entering a bluebird house with an active nest. If your bluebirds have laid at least one egg in their nest and they are still being pestered by house sparrows, this is the tool that you need. You can build a sparrow spooker yourself, but the Sparrow Spooker by SparrowTraps.net can be installed on almost any variety of bluebird house, and it’s very affordable. Check it out on their website here.

Note: You should install a sparrow spooker after your bluebirds lay their first egg, then take the spooker down once the bluebirds have left the nest.

If you have problems with racoons accessing your bluebird houses, you can deter them by installing a stove-pipe style baffle on the pole leading to your nest box. You can make one of these yourself DIY, or you can buy one from a good retailer. The “Predator Defeater” made by Songbird Essentials is the one I recommend. Check out the current price on Amazon here.

If your problem with House Sparrows is severe, you might consider proactively trapping and eliminating House Sparrows with an in-box trap. The Van Ert Universal Sparrow Trap is the best tool for trapping sparrows inside of a nest box. You can set up this trap and capture house sparrows inside of nest boxes where sparrows are persistently nesting.

Click here to purchase this trap from the Van Ert website

Click here to purchase the same trap designed for the Gilbertson (PVC pipe) style nest box

I recommend watching the video below by the “Backyard Birds” channel on YouTube to learn more about using a Van Ert In-Box Trap.

If you’re trapping sparrows inside of a nest box, you’ll need a reliable way to identify and release native birds. Imagine you accidentally catch a bluebird or a tree swallow – you’ll need to let it go! These mesh laundry bags are a great, reusable tool to use along with your Van Ert trap when you’re trapping house sparrows.

To use, you cover the nest box completely with the bag, then open the box and allow the bird to fly into the the bag. Identify the bird as either a native bird or a house sparrow, and then either release the bird, or humanely eliminate it, depending on the species. Click here to get one of these mesh laundry bags on Amazon.

For a dire house sparrow infestation, a live sparrow trap can be the tool you need to make your yard more inviting for bluebirds. This Tomahawk Double Door Rigid Live Sparrow Trap is one of the best options, in my opinion, for this type of trapping. Click here to get one of these double Live Sparrow Traps on Amazon.