How to dispose of trapped sparrow.

[zoefluf]

This lovely sparrow couple have been working on their nest in my Troyer horizontal with a Conley II entrance for the past week. The nest looks great so I think it is time to trap them - actually I just put the trap in. Now I am worrying about getting them out if I DO trap them or if I manage to trap just one of them, I would like to leave the nest in good condition so that the other one will go into the trap. I really, really, really, hate this part of being a landlord.

So, experienced landlords, how do I get them out of the gourd once they are trapped and how can I (gulp) gently send them on their way to the rainbow bridge? Looking forward to your suggestions.
Jeanne

[Carlton]

I assume you are using the little wire hoop trap that one purchases for the THG.

All you have to do is put a clearish plastic bag over the entrance, hold it tightly around the entrance area and lift the drop down trap door. The HS should fly into the bag. Quickly squeeze the bag together and trap him in the bag. You can twist the bag so that there is very little air space in the bag, set something heavy on the twisted part and the pest will expire in a few minutes. No need for you to do anything else but dump him out of the bag.

IF he does not fly right out you can try tapping on the side of the gourd to scare him out. You can also put a large rubberband over the neck of the gourd and leave the bag there.

I keep one round entranced THG as a starling trap and it works well for me.

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

Jeanne:

Per your request, I sent you a PM.

Tim

[John Miller]

I think cervical dislocation is said to result in them going limp...I tend to pull too hard, and that works too but is disgusting. Of course grandma did it to chickens.

I also have used Mike Sculley's "school kids are watching" method of clipping their tails close to the nub. They fly off, but don't return. Even the males somehow know they need a tail I guess to hold on when copulating, and knowing their limitations are content to just hang out quitely. You will somtimes see tailess sparrows around, but they give up on the housing.

Now that I've offended all (grin); better get back to a work project.

John M

[Stretch]

Rainbow bridge! That's funny. Throw them in the freezer and send them to that person looking for HOSP's and Starlings for Raptor rehab!!

funny you ask. I've often wondered what I would do if I started trapping.

How do you get them out? I think if you take a plastic grocery bag over the opening and then open the trap...this thing will come flying out and into the bag..then...something humane.

Bought trap building supplies today, so I will soon be having the same problem.

[Doug Martin - PA]

I don't like killing anything even S&S.

I always have a can of starting fluid around (ether).

I get them into a 1 gal clear plastic container with the large opening usually right from the trap.. (They sell bulk pretzel rods in them.)

I quick shot of fluid close the lid and walk away. Come back later and dispose of them. I hear they see rainbows as they doze off.

Doug

[KathyF]

I think cervical dislocation is said to result in them going limp...I tend to pull too hard, and that works too but is disgusting. Of course grandma did it to chickens.

John M

I tend to pull too hard too. Comes from having to kill 50 chickens at a time every fall back home, I guess.

I had been using ether up until last year. A new landlord needed help, so I took my sparrow trap over. Caught 11 in the trap the first night. Too many to deal with ether, so started cervical dislocation, but that didn't work out well. Got the gloves & finished. Over the next 9 days, caught a total of 55 HOSP and disposed of them that way. Glad I didn't try to use ether - it would have cost some bucks!

[bbillyc]

A pellet gun is quick, extremely fast and the bird does not suffer. I usually shoot them rather than trap them. As soon as they take an interest in the nest site all you need is good aim. If you prefer trapping and putting in a bag a pellet to the head through the bag is instant and little to no anxiety for the bird. The process should be as fast and humane as possible. Nobody likes to do this but to be a successful landlord it is a prerequisite. Don't forget that not all sparrows are HOSP's so you need to make sure of your recognition and identification before disposing of them. I can't imagine suffocating to death, that takes way too long. The starting fluid works well but is extremely flamable and can harm you as well if you inhale it or have a source of ignition nearby.

[Scully]

Suffocation inside an enclosed space due to increasing carbon dioxide levels is certainly uncomfortable for humans, and probably for sparrows.

I have wrung the necks of starlings but that does appear to require a degree of expertise, took me longer than I was comfortable with.

Blood and guts (literally) doesn't trouble me at all if it is accompanied by an instantaneous death. To that end a quick and heavy blow from an overwhelmingly large object (ie big rock or boot with human attached) while the bagged bird is on the ground works every time, and is about the fastest method I know.

Ornithologists kill small birds they need intact by compressing the chest with the thumb while the bird is in hand, nothing I would care to try though unless I really had to.

One painless method I have used is car exaust. I put the cage trap in a large trash bag and held the opening close to the exhaust for a few minutes. This almost worked on me too

If I were going to use that method I would get a short length of garden hose and run it from the exhaust into a large cardboard box, the hose does not have to take up anything close to the whole exhaust, enough of the fumes will run down it.

The cardboard box needs to have an opening for the fumes to escape so that they can flow though the box. I have used this method when testing exhaust gases with a student on a project. Unlike suffocation due to accumulating CO2. Death by Carbon Monoxide (in exhaust gases) kills painlessly and almost undetectably by the victim (which is precisely why carbon monoxide poisoning is so very dangerous).

Alternatively, if you want a method that will not keep eight year-olds awake at night..... you can just scissor the tail feathers off of 'em down to the nubs (the sparrows not the kids) and let 'em go. This has worked very well for us (thus far we are about 40 - 0 now) over the past few years. It also might be about the fastest method there is: bird in hand, clip off tail, let it go... Here at school I have done the whole lower gourds-grab sparrow-cut tail-raise gourds sequence many times in a single six-minute passing period and not even been late to class.

Mike Scully

[James Johnson]

Jeanne, just be sure you catch the male. He started the problem and will continue to give you grief by sweet talking another female into his pad. IMHO there is no such thing as a good looking House Sparrow nest. All I have ever seen were trash traps. Neither is there going to be any way for you to dispatch the thieving interlopers without offending your conscience until you experience the marauding nature of the little murderers. You can rationalize all the harmless ways to kill a bird, but dead is still dead and the best way to kill an offending House Sparrow or Starling is "quick". GET IT DONE!

[MidTNJerry]

Can you guys elaborate on the "clipping the tail feathers" thing? What good does that do?

[James Johnson]

Can you guys elaborate on the "clipping the tail feathers" thing? What good does that do?

The only reason I can think of for "clipping tail feathers" would be to cripple the bird and let the neighbor's cat do the dirty work.

[Michael Sanford ~ OK]

HOSP into plastic bag. Plastic bag + HOSP hits concrete at high velocity. HOSP goes into the trash or the freezer for rehabbers. Repeat if necessary.

[zoefluf]

You guys are GREAT! I knew I could count on you. I have used the Starting Fluid in the past. I have a grand total of 3 sparrow kills. Though there was one (my very first) that got away (Didn't use enough ether -he and I went round and round in the garage till, still in a drunken stupor he outwitted me and escaped ). The next one, a female, I caught in a Universal Sparrow trap. I just put the little trap in a plastic grocery bag, sprayed half a can of Starting Fluid (overkill, I know, but I didn't want to repeat my mistake) tied up the bag, then made my husband dispose of it when he got home from work. Next, I caught two together in my Troyer - silly me used a thin dry cleaning bag and when they flew into the bag the little buggers almost pecked their way out of it before I could spray the ether - that got my heart pumping.

Thanks all for giving me more options of elimination to consider.

Scully,
My husband won't trust me with a gun so I know he definitely won't trust me to use the car exhaust. After all, I almost asphyxiated myself with the Starting Fluid.

Set the trap but the little heathens didn't go in tonight. I'm counting on them bringing in more nesting materials early tomorrow morning.
Jeanne

[James Johnson]

Jeanne, you had me feeling great sympathy for you having to face the inevitable future of that darling couple of HS sweethearts that the cruel landlord was going to have to forcefully evict. Now it appears you have the constitution of an experienced HS executioner. Way to go girl! By the way, It want ever be easy but then most worthwhile things are never easy. Good luck. Keep them flying.

[John Miller]

Re: tail clipping

I'm glad to have it as a tool to use at public sites. I can't even set an obvious trap -- limited to in-cavity and try then to be discrete because of the diverse opinions of those watching, and because it's not my private property -- I have to always keep that in mind.

We are trying with sites in public parks to get people to notice nature, and birds in general. Most don't know one bird from another. If an individual goes home and puts up martin housing on their own property, then that's a good time for them to do as they wish, and learn all they can.

Not sure the survival rate of clipped sparrows. They fly well, and I've seen one here at my city home on my winter feeders, but they lose interest in mating, so I think of the technique as neutering.

I recently attended a very informative talk from a wild bird rehab center in St. Louis and the speaker was asked if they will rehab starlings and sparrows, if a citizen brings one in. She said yes because the center's goal was not to impact a particular species, but to educate the public about appreciating nature. Then..someone brought up the thing about sparrows not being natives. Another worker from the center, a person of Native American heritage, remarked that white people are not natives either. Ha. Just thought it was interesting...we can argue all this until the cows come home, but again, I'm just glad to have it as a tool, for use...sometimes.

John M

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I have a large black lab, I hold the bird by its feet, keep my hand behind a board, or behind a door so he doesn't bite my hand, and position the bird so he can see it. It doesn't take him but a second to chomp down on the bird, he then proceeds to eat part of it. I haven't killed a trapped bird in years.

[KathyF]

Bottom line - don't let them reproduce! I have a single girlfriend who wanted to put up bluebird houses, so hubby and I helped her build them. She wanted to pay, but I told her my only price was to not let HOSP reproduce in the boxes.

She didn't have sparrows the first 2 years, but she has 9-10 showing up all of a sudden this year. She is very squeamish about killing a HOSP. I gave her all the information on her options (including tail-clipping) & a trap and told her, don't care WHAT you do, just don't let them reproduce.

Tail clipping is an excellent option for public sites. I might have to resort to it myself when the 2 public sites go up at the banks - although this IS southern Missouri, where most people aren't quite that squeamish. But time will tell.
The only things to remember about tail-clipping: 1) Their tails will grow back when they molt next year and 2) you *might* have a harder time trapping them when their tails DO grow back as these @#$%# birds seem to learn quickly what got them in trouble last time and avoid it going forward.

[Scully]

The only things to remember about tail-clipping: 1) Their tails will grow back when they molt next year and 2) you *might* have a harder time trapping them when their tails DO grow back as these @#$%# birds seem to learn quickly what got them in trouble last time and avoid it going forward.

Might be five years now since we started, in our forty gourds on a public school campus.

Tailless sparrows fly well and can be seen around campus until the fall moult (it is not rare for wild birds of many species to lose their tailfeathers, usually one assumes to close calls with predators). Thus far we haven't had any untrappable sparrows in subsequent years.

I'm not sure that they lose their interest in mating, I believe its rather the other sparrows lose interest in them. In any event a tail-clipped male may hang around the gourds for a day or two after the deed, but is way less aggressive and rapidly seems to lose interest. Tail clipped females just go away.

Mike Scully

[KathyF]

Mike,
At one point, weren't you also clipping the feathers on one of their wings? Seems that would keep them from flying and keep them on the ground. I ask, because as I mentioned before, I might have to temper myself and resort to this passive management method managing a public site this year.

As to "tail-clipped females just go away". In my anecdotal experience only, I have found that all the supposed *rules* never hold true 100% of the time. For instance, I had read on this forum a few years ago that if you kill the male, the female would abandon the site. Well, I found out that wasn't true. Two years ago, I eliminated a male of a pair of HOSP building a nest in a neighbor's house. The female stayed and attracted male after male, that I eliminated every couple of days. She was like a black widow.

I eliminated 4 males and after realizing that she was NOT going to leave, I took her out too. I realized then that the conventional wisdom is not always true for everyone.