Startling Starling Statistic

[Nanette]

Hi,

I put up a thread last weekend that my gourdrack at the park was completely full (32) of Starling nests including 4 nestlings, all of which, I removed. I was sickened by the thought that I had 32 pairs of Starlings breaching my SREH entrances. This weekend, I did another nest check. I had 26 Starling nests, 1 with eggs. At 2:00 pm on Saturday, I re-removed all the nests except the one with the eggs in which I put a trap. The next morning (I had someone checking to let me know if the trap was tripped) I went to the park and pulled out a male Starling (no brood patch) from the trap and noticed 10 new nests, one with an egg and one with a freshly killed TS (It's eyes pecked out) and a nest built right over it.

Apparently, the female could not enter her gourd (the male was trapped in it) and she laid her egg in the gourd above. I put a trap on that gourd and within a couple of hours, caught her (she had a brood patch). I went back this morning and there has been NO new nesting activity which leads me to believe that the ONE pair of Starlings were responsible for building all (32 + 26 + 10) 68 nests!!!!!!!!!!!

I will do another nest check in a few days to confirm.

I have figured a functional and aesthetically pleasing solution to raising the porch so that they will less likely be breached in the future. I used white vinyl lattice which is 1/4" thick, super glue and caulk. The lattice is easy to cut into the correct size strips. I just score it with an exacto knife and snap it. I put two 3 " pieces side by side, glued them on the porch in front of the entrance hole and caulked around it as not to catch any toes. I will try to attach a picture.

[Nanette]

Let's see if this works....

[Guest]

Gee whiz Nanette. Those were some busy birds
Key word being were
I'm glad you managed to get rid of them. Keep up the good work.

[Louise Chambers]

Ditto what Lilyrose said - good work, Nanette! Aren't you glad to have those starlings out of the picture... maybe that female had a button stuck on repeat cycle when it came to nest building. I have not heard of one pair building that many nests, twice yet, in one system. But very glad it is only the one pair, and they is now a was. Hopefully the park will have some luck now with martins, still plenty of time.

Your porch fix with the trellis looks very nice, like all your work. Neat and easy, it should all be that way.

Louise

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

It is important to attach the SREH at the correct distance from the porch. I hope that it solved your problem.

[kimball911]

Just to touch on the SREH...I have all 36 of my gourd entrances with SREH. My martins have started laying eggs are in different phases of nesting. While watching TV I noticed from the window a fairly large bird on one of the porches. I got the binoculars and it was a starling. He tried to enter and could not, he went directly to the next gourd and tried it, could not enter, went to two more gourds and tried several times to enter and could not. If these had been round holes, can you imagine the devastation this one starling would've caused. It was nice to sit back and watch his frustration and eventual failure. I am so glad my birds have adapted to the SREH and really I think they are more relaxed and leave the nests unattended longer, which allows more food intake.

[Nanette]

Hi Louise,

Thanks for the compliment. BTY, what the heck is your avatar?????

Hi Emil,

The distance from the porch to the bottom of the entrance is between 3/8 and 1/4". I haven't converted all my gourds yet because I was worried that the Martins may not be able to get in. Andy Troyer said that Martins can get in with the porch right up to the entrance. What is your experience?

Kimball,

I too have seen at my colony that the Starlings appear to not be able to get in. This season, I did find a Martin with pecked out eyes and forehead. I assumed it was a sparrow but now I am not sure. I am very glad to figure out that it was one pair of Starlings at the park but..... if they could breach the openings, so could others. Perhaps they were smaller than average, I don't know. What I do know is that I need to adjust the porches. I have the original (Troyer) Conley entrances.

I will (hopefully) confirm my hypothesis that it was only one pair by subsequent nest checks. With as much nest building that was recurring, it seems logical to assume that with no activity in 24 hours, the problem may have been solved with the demise of one pair of Starlings! I hate to say this but, with as much "work" that pair has done (minus the dead TS), it is hard not to respect them a little....in their eulogy!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Nanette, yes, follow Andy's recommendation, put ALL the porches about 1/8in or less, 1/16in is probably the best distance from the entrance hole to the porch. That will stop most of the starlings.

You should strive to never let a starling enter any of the cavities, because once they can enter one cavity, they will try a whole lot harder to enter that cavity the next time they try. By changing all of the distances to the "right" distance, you will definitely be ahead of the starlings instead of behind them tearing out their nests.

My experience is that they haven't entered any of my gourds that had the correct size SREH, but the distance to my porches from the bottom of the entrance hole is flush to 1/8in, and I have over 200 pairs entering them at that distance. Trust us, the martins will be able to enter.

[Nanette]

Hi again,

Those Starlings weren't the only busy birds last weekend, my colony jumped from 61 to 146 eggs in 4 days!

[Guest]

Nanette, what a spooky bird. I also have porches on my gourds but so far so good with the starlings staying out. Also hope you'll be able to come over to Maryland soon so that you can see my "colony". One was victim to a hawk, I found one dead female in a gourd after a very cold night, and I believe I only have 2 pair as of today. Maybe you can evaluate my porches and see what you think. Thanks Becky

[Nanette]

Hi,

Went back today for another nest check. No Starling (or Martin) nesting activity. I can't be certain it was only one pair of Starlings, but, the evidence supports the theory!