Tree swallows in my nest box. (1 Viewer)

Hello,

Writing from Southern Alberta. I have a pair of tree swallows which have taken up residence in one of my nest boxes. I was just googling tree swallows to read general info about them and was horrified to read how aggressive sparrows can be!
I have a feeder right beside the nest box which attracts tones of sparrows, and had no idea that they were responsible for violently pecking to death many native birds each year.
I will take the feeder down in the morning, and take down the other nest boxes in my small yard.
I read that the box should be removed if a sparrow discovers it. Well there was a male sparrow in this very box several weeks ago, and he was chasing the sparrows off. Im not sure what happened to him, but the swallows have claimed the box and I haven't seen the sparrow in almost a week (feeder is currently out of feed). So is it likely this sparrow will be back since he knows of this nest box?
I read about putting up sparrow spookers, but only after the first egg is laid. How do I know if there is an egg? The box is wooden, the lid doesn't lift, so I'd have to unscrew the top off to look inside. Would this cause the pair to abandon the nest site?
I am very worried now, after seeing pics of chicks pecked to death!

Welcome to Birdforum!

I would not advise looking inside the box or interfering in any way. I think you are going to have to let nature take its course.

Thanks Kits. I did not attempt to open the swallow's box, but attempted to take down the other two boxes in my yard, both of which appeared to be empty. One was occupied by wasps!!! Yikes. The other, which I thought was empty, was full of eggs! I put the box back and watched to see who would return and it was a sparrow! So now I have sparrows and swallows nesting in very close proximity to one another, and I observed sparrows flying and hovering around my poor swallow's box. I've read about destroying the sparrow's eggs, but I just don't have it in me to do that.
I am going to attempt a sparrow spooker and hope for the best.