Hi folks:
I have killed several sparrows and each time that I kill one, it seems that another appears. Sometimes 1 and at other times 2. Yesterday morning, one sparrow went from one gourd rack to another. I did not see the sparrow even look in a gourd. Could he have just perched for a look at the gourds or do you think his intentions is to bring back a female?
I was able to watch the racks this morning for a couple hours and did not see the first sparrow.
How much longer before the sparrows will settle into a nesting mode and leave my martins along or will they be a problem for me until the martins have fledged their young.
I need some answers, if you don't care to comment.
Thanks,
Joe
I NEED ANSWERS!!!!
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Joe Creason KY
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:09 am
- Location: GREENSBURG, KY
You can please some of the martins some of the time, but you can't please all the martins all of the time.
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John Miller
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Joe
Keep shooting.
I've seen house sparrows nest into August, after the martins have departed. They may go through as many as three nest cycles.
You may know, if you elminate a female sparrow, the male just stays and attracts another female. If you eliminate the male, the female abandons.
Keep shooting.
John M
Keep shooting.
I've seen house sparrows nest into August, after the martins have departed. They may go through as many as three nest cycles.
You may know, if you elminate a female sparrow, the male just stays and attracts another female. If you eliminate the male, the female abandons.
Keep shooting.
John M
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
Its best to trap or kill the first sparrows that you see. If you let them start building a nest, they will bring many friends to your place. If they see a sparrow nesting, it makes them feel safe to come over, and then they start to build a nest, it keeps escalating, and more and more come. Furthermore, once they start building a nest, its impossible to get them to move, you will have to kill them to get rid of them. Same with starlings.
Also, they nest more than once, I don't know how many times they raise a batch of baby sparrows, but after they do, they start nesting again, and I think that the babies also start nesting the same year that they are born. Here is what I copied from the web:
"Five to six eggs, profusely dusted, speckled or blotched with black, brown or ash-grey on a blue-tinted or creamy white ground, are usual types of the very variable eggs. They are variable in size and shape as well as markings. Eggs are incubated by the female. The House Sparrow has the shortest incubation period of all the birds: 10-12 days, and a female can lay 25 eggs a summer in New England."
Also, they nest more than once, I don't know how many times they raise a batch of baby sparrows, but after they do, they start nesting again, and I think that the babies also start nesting the same year that they are born. Here is what I copied from the web:
"Five to six eggs, profusely dusted, speckled or blotched with black, brown or ash-grey on a blue-tinted or creamy white ground, are usual types of the very variable eggs. They are variable in size and shape as well as markings. Eggs are incubated by the female. The House Sparrow has the shortest incubation period of all the birds: 10-12 days, and a female can lay 25 eggs a summer in New England."
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Glenda Detling
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 6:03 pm
- Location: Texas/Kyle
We have had our share of sparrow and starlings this year. We have trapped and killed many sparrows and two starlings. Even so, two of our compartments have been nested with eggs over and over again. We tear out the nests everytime we check (every day or two), have not seemed to be able to discourage these pairs (one pair of HOSP's and one pair of ST's). Finally, I closed the door on the two compartments. The ST's managed to get past my foil, but today I upended the metal porch on the goard that the starlings were using. They were very frustrated immediately, and now they seem to have flown off somewhere. We'll see what happens.
In the mean time I have 16 other PM compartments that are well nested with 52 eggs as of today. I have found that once settled into nesting, the martins can pretty much hold their own over the predator birds. I do have a fear that the starlings may intrude on a martin nest now that I have shut them out of their favorite goard. I will keep close watch.
Glenda
In the mean time I have 16 other PM compartments that are well nested with 52 eggs as of today. I have found that once settled into nesting, the martins can pretty much hold their own over the predator birds. I do have a fear that the starlings may intrude on a martin nest now that I have shut them out of their favorite goard. I will keep close watch.
Glenda
Glenda and Ron