I was playing around with my scope yesterday, enjoying the activity around
our nestboxes, when I caught a bit of a drama - a House Wren systematically
removing the contents of a Tree Swallow nest from a box, while the current
occupants tried, and failed, to resist.  I got some of this on video, which
I've edited together.  Sorry for the quality - this was all handheld and at
a good distance away. A good iPhone scope attachment is on my wish list!

https://youtu.be/kJHZU_Z4gsE

What I find most interesting is that this box is in the middle of a field,
just a tree or two around (and not close to the box), and we've never had
wrens near it before that I've seen.  And, we've got another box in another
location, also quite exposed and not in a transitional zone, that has been
claimed by a different pair of wrens. That female was hard at work bullding
yesterday while her mate sang away nearby. No mother's day relaxation for
her!  I got a little video of that too.

https://youtu.be/SVAH8cXsSdo

Am I misinformed that HOWR prefer to nest near edge?  Or did these guys
just not get that memo?

-- Miriam Lawrence, Monkton