Nest Boxes

or even destroy the young. I have seen it stated that, if you do not plan to actively eliminate non-native species nests from your boxes, it would be better not to place any boxes at all.

I would not presume to be dogmatic about this issue. I can only tell you what I do and leave it to you to make up your own mind. In my garden I practice a philosophy of non-interference. My feeling is that I do not make the rules and I will not harm, or interfere with, any animal in my garden if I can possibly avoid it. I have a problem with determining what are 'good' species and 'bad' species. There are native species that are predatory. When I see a cowbird egg in the nest of another bird I likewise leave it alone.

Attrition, predation and death are occurring all the time in natural habitats. We need to stand back from it and realize that it is a normal part of the process. I have watched hawks swoop in close after birds at the feeders. They have killed and plucked their prey on my back step. We need to avoid applying our perceptions and values to animal behaviour. A failure to understand how nature works can cause unintentional harm when we intervene.

Introducing the house sparrow and starling was a classic example of human hubris. The idea that we are agents acting upon nature and not participants in nature has resulted in much harm. Any destructive interaction with nature, including destroying house sparrow nests, is one more example of the attempt to bend nature to the human will. I will not do it.

The real problem is destruction of habitat. Rather than come to terms with that and amend our behavior, it is easier to again blame the victims of our hubris, the birds and animals. In the last resort, the justification always appears to begin with the statement "people are more important than..." (insert the name of the troublesome species).

I prefer to keep dogma and ideology out of my garden. All of the animals and birds in my garden are important to me and I cannot reconcile a conservationist philosophy with the notion of playing God. I believe that working to conserve habitat and to slow the pace of habitat destruction is the real issue and will have the much larger impact over the long term.

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