Sparrow are building nest like crazy...HELP

hopeathome · Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:38 am

I ordered the Blaines trap, it should arrive today or tomorrow. The sparrows are worse than they have ever been. My arms are so sore from lowering the trap 3 times a day to remove the sparrow nest.
I've only sen 2 scouts and I'm afraid the PM won't move in this year

It that a possibility?

I have had them here every year for 8 years and there was a PM house here when I moved in, so it was already an established colony.

I'll have to lower the housesagain today and remove the sparrow nest. (I have 2 PM houses) They keep building in like 50% of each of my Martin houses.

Please tell me the Martins will move in this year....I'm almost in tears over it.

Thanks so much for all your help, don't know what I'd do without you guys

Hope

Reply asap.... I really need help and advice

DebA · Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:58 am

Good morning, Hope -

I would suggest that you plug most of your holes up so it limits the sparrows attention. Don't be discouraged, even though there are scout reports coming in all around us now, it is still early. I'm not sure how many pairs or fledglings you've had in the past but I suspect an eight year colony would have returning birds with site fidelity. Enough to stand up to the sparrows. Look at all of the un-managed sites that have PM's next to sparrows.

Maybe a trap to go into your house, assuming it is used when you are around to keep an eye on it. I'm having trouble with springing my new trap when I raise the house. Still working on it though. I've seen postings about the Blaine's trap and am considering getting one of those too.

I'm learning to site and shoot a .22 and have actually enjoyed it. However, Kathy F. said on my post she relies on traps the most due to the time you put into shooting. I can see why. This hunting thing can take forever, and it's hard when you have a house to clean and laundry to do in the back of your mind (although it didn't take much for me to let that stuff sit).

Sounds like you are doing things right and even if only a few holes are open your returning martins will make their presence known and hang around while you drop the house and open compartments. Breathe easy and try to enjoy.

Deb

Emil Pampell-Tx · Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:07 am

I think that I would close all the housing for about 3 days, discourage the sparrows somewhat, maybe they will move out until you can trap or shoot some of them

~Ray~Gingerich · Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:44 am

I don't know what kind of house you have but if it's a trio type house you could use a Spar-0-door to trap them, if it's not a trio house you could make the opening smaller with clear packing tape and set a glue board inside, Carlton on the forum came up with that idea if you need more details. Cleaning out the nests will not solve the problem, sparrows need to be eliminated.

Guest · Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:55 am

Hope,

I too am having the same problem. This is my first year trying, and the sparrows are unbelievable! I keep tearing out their nests daily, and I have probably shot about 5 of them in the last week. Yet they continue to come back for more.

Two days ago I plugged all but one hole. However, they just doubled their efforts on that one hole. I am afraid that even if I do get PMs this year, they will be scared off.

I too would love some advice on this. If I close the final hole for a few days, is that ok? What will happen if I get a PM visitor?

Advice is appreciated!!

KathyF · Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:06 am

If you close the holes without eliminating the HOSP, then they will just return when you reopen them and cause you even more grief if the purple martins have arrived.

Get yourself a couple of insert traps for your house - either one of these
http://purplemartin.org/shop/product_in ... c44bd6fd5f

or whatever to fit your house. You could also close off all the holes to your house and setup a temporary small bluebird box next to your racks, with a Van Ert trap or one of these - http://purplemartin.org/shop/product_in ... ecbcd7b993

Reduce the size of the holes on your house entrances to 1.5" or better, 1 3/8" by cutting that size hole in a sour cream or cottage cheese lid and taping it over the hole to prevent martins or other birds from entering your trap.

Close off a few holes, to get the HOSP directed to your nest boxes with traps.

Once you trap a HOSP in your nestbox, then put the live sparrow in your repeating Blaine sparrow trap or your PMCA repeating trap. A live HOSP in your repeating trap at this point in the season is the best bait, as they're not too interested in food right now.

As a last resort, you can glue trap. REDUCE the hole size to 1 3/8" if you're going to glue trap!

Emil Pampell-Tx · Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:06 am

First off, its best to try to get rid of the sparrows before the martins arrive. Sparrows and starlings nest about 2 to 3 weeks before martins arrive, so that is the best time to concentrate on the trash birds. They quickly use nest box traps during this time.

We have a few nest box traps are around the perimeter of our colony, so we catch a lot of them. I have 3 traps, but yet, some will not go into the traps, so I also shoot them with a pellet rifle.

Let me tell you for sure, you will never completely get rid of them, but with a lot of trapping and shooting, you can at least have them under control enough to have some martins.

I agree that the Spar-o-door is a good trap during the nesting period for the sparrows, and the hole is so small that a martin cannot enter, so you don't have that worry with that trap, it fits a Trio house. Maybe you could make a wooden trap, and attach the Spar-o-door to the homemade trap if you do not have a Trio house.

For starlings, you need starling resistant entry holes...good luck

Todd Wright · Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:07 am

I have one pair that is persistant in trying to build a nest. When I put the spare o door on they move to another compartment. I had a blank door I cut a hole in and put the universal trap in and they move to another compartment. If I make any changes they move to another compartment. I have never had this much trouble getting a pair of sparrows. I will try the tape trick and glue trap. They of course are building on the side of house away from my yard so oppurtunities to shoot are not good. If you have a crescent entrance do you put the tape at top or bottom and how much of hole do you cover-I have alot of martins and do not want to chance catching one in glue trap.

KathyF · Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:13 am

More trapping tactics:
Check out this thread:
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... rap+kathyf

Here's some tips on handling hosp that I put together. Others may have some advice as well, but this is my basic guide that I follow:

Once the sparrows start nesting, if you gather some of their nest material and some white feathers and put the nest and feathers inside the holding pen of a repeating bait trap, they will try to retrieve it.

Sparrows just keep rebuilding if you do nest tearouts. If there are no martins around or if your martins are settled in and the sparrow is nesting then I let the sparrow build a nest, hatch their eggs and wait until the babies are about 1 week to 10 days old. Then I take the nest and the babies and put them in the trap. The mother and father sparrow will go right in the trap to try to rescue them.

You would have to observe your own conditions and decide if you want to try the method above - but make sure you track the age of the babies and don't let them fledge.

I have found the absolute best "bait" to have in a sparrow trap is a female house sparrow. Once you capture one, keep her alive in your trap, and the males will come marching into your trap after her. Keep at least 1 female alive in your trap at all times.

Last ditch effort: for the really hard to catch house sparrows that you really can't get into the trap or shoot, my last move of desperation is, well - to use a glue trap.

Let the sparrows build their nest and lay eggs. Buy some of the mouse glue traps at Walmart - try to find the white ones that you peel off the protective sheet. Be careful - they're very sticky. Before you peel off the sheet, cut out a big enough section - about 2"x2". Observe how their nest looks at the entrance hole because you are going to want to put it back the same way. Carefully pull out the nest with the eggs. Peel off the sheet and place the glue trap in the bottom of their nest under their eggs - sticking their eggs on top of the trap, being very careful not to rearrange the nest too much, but leave as much sticky stuff exposed as you can. Carefully put their nest back in the cavity and try to arrange it around the entrance hole the way you found it.

Retreat to a place where you can be hidden but still see the sparrows nest cavity. DO NOT take your eyes off this cavity - please be VERY CAREFUL with this trapping method. You don't want a martin going into your trap and getting stuck! I've caught several difficult male house sparrows this way. It takes about 20 - 30 minutes of patience and closely watching the box before he goes in. As soon as he goes in, get him out of the box as quickly as you can and throw him in the trap if you can get the glue trap off of him. If not, euthanize him by breaking his neck.

Scully · Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:21 am

The sparrows are worse than they have ever been. My arms are so sore from lowering the trap 3 times a day to remove the sparrow nest.

Hope,

First, some photos to illustrate my points....

The above are typical of MOST active martin sites in my area.

The point is, as long as there are open cavities, on a site that has previously hosted a colony, the sparrows alone are unlikely to run off all the martins. It may look absolutely horrible, but martins will come.

Remember that MOST martins i=have to breed under these sorry conditions.

A second point is MERELY REMOVING NESTS WILL NOT GET RID OF SPARROWS. ONe year I tried it on five houses like these every week for three months, there was NO reduction in sparrow nests in all that time. Unlike most wild birds, house sparrows do not appear to abandon the nest site when the nest is destroyed, they just rebuild.

What just removing the nests DOES do is cause the sparrows to invade adjacent cavities occupied by martins and destroy their eggs and small young.

Also, while it may seem like every sparrow in the neighborhood is attacking your housing, my experience over the last ten years has been its usually only two or three pairs out of many. Eliminate THESE and your problems drop off exponentially.

My advice is to target the exact individual sparrows in their cavities. As some have pointed out, very effective entrance door traps are available.

Failing that, shim down the entrance to 1 1/2" so that sparrows can enter but martins cannot. I use the plastic lids from food containers....

If it were me I'd order a sparrow door trap and wait for it to arrive, so that I could catch the sparrows without having to place anything in their nest.

Failing that I would carefully place a mousetrap or glue trap inside the nest, after shimming down the entrance as described so martins could not get in.

Mike Scully

KathyF · Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:47 am

Todd Wright wrote:I have one pair that is persistant in trying to build a nest. When I put the spare o door on they move to another compartment. I had a blank door I cut a hole in and put the universal trap in and they move to another compartment. If I make any changes they move to another compartment. I have never had this much trouble getting a pair of sparrows. I will try the tape trick and glue trap. They of course are building on the side of house away from my yard so oppurtunities to shoot are not good. If you have a crescent entrance do you put the tape at top or bottom and how much of hole do you cover-I have alot of martins and do not want to chance catching one in glue trap.

Todd, cut out a 1.5" hole in a food container lid - such as cottage cheese or sour cream lid and tape that over your crescent hole - wherever the tape will fit will be fine.

You could let the sparrows build their nest and lay eggs, THEN trap them, using the eggs as bait as described above. I know it's hard to let them do this, but believe me - if they've invested in building and laying eggs, then your chances of trapping them are greater.

Also, find some light, white fluffy feathers to stick in your nest box where you put the trap. HOSP love feathers.

hopeathome · Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:42 am

I just saw a PM sitting on one of my houses! YAY

Plus my husband will be home Thursday and he shoots the sparrows with a pellet gun. I know it sounds ugly...but it works. Until then I will I will leave the sparrow nest alone and set up my sparrow trap. Sparrow trap and the pellet gun method should work.

Thanks for your help..... You guys rock

Scully · Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:48 am

You could let the sparrows build their nest and lay eggs, THEN trap them, using the eggs as bait as described above

Good point, I spent four days last week seeting a total of six sparrow trap gourds in four different colonies. Trapped out ten sparrows all of which had eggs.

The thing is, I set two traps in error, based upon the amount of recent, clearly sparrow nesting material in the two gourds. These cavities were actually occupied by ASY martin pairs and not sparrows. I believe the sparrow nest material was actually left there by either sparrow pairs that had been run off by the martins, or by sparrow males depositing material in multiple nests.

Had I not been there that evening to see this when the martins return (as often happens with "satellite" colonies that we maintain), I would have left the trap gourds in place, depriving two ASY pairs of their cavity.

As soon as I returned their original gourds in place of the shimmed-down entrance trap gourd they went right in.

From here on in, if I cant be there to witness the colony, I will only set traps after the sparrows have eggs, proving that they have possession. Actually this is not a major issue, sparrows lay eggs pretty quick.

Mike Scully

electraglideman · Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:43 am

Starting in January I will place a spar-o-door trap in my trio with all of the other doors closed. I think I trapped around 2 dozen HS by February 29 when my Martins showed up. I removed the trap and opened up all of the doors and so for the Trio and gourds are sparrow free.

John Miller · Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:12 pm

pull sparrow nests several times a week right up to mid May. As you had many martins last year (from your profile); they should be able to claim most of the cavities as they arrive in greater numbers. I don't think they will abandon. continue trapping too, as you plan.

Be cautious pulling sparrow nests by late may and early June when the martins have eggs. It does set off male house sparrow revenge, especially then at the height of the season. if you're down to one or two sparrow nests then, as I suspect, and think you can continue to successfully trap..then try.

John M

Scully · Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:12 pm

pull sparrow nests several times a week right up to mid May.

A point of convivial disagreement; IMHO pulling the nests will not get rid of the sparrows, but may make them more aggressive in invading neighboring cavities.

Once I have a sparrow pair commit to a cavity, especially as in eggs appearing, they are toast. I can have them trapped out that same day.

At least that has been my experience.

Regards,

Mike Scully

Emil Pampell-Tx · Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:30 pm

I would wait until they have 1 or 2 eggs, then I would trap them. they work so fast, sometimes they lay eggs with 1 to 3 days after starting the nest. Pulling their nests never has worked well for me.

John Miller · Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:59 pm

Mike

Hey Mike...note that I qualified my recommendation on continuing to pull sparrow nests on a large number of breeding pairs of martins last year. The profile says 20 pairs. It's true I don't know the occupancy rate.

I agree that nest pulling is of little value in sites that would only get a few martin pairs. But I've been successful with it at sites at nearly full martin occupancy, where the incoming martins are then able to claim most and sometimes all cavities.

It's difficult to give general sparrow control recommendations. every site has slightly different characteristics...but my recommendation was based on what has worked for me at h igh martin occupancy sites.

John M

KathyF · Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:19 pm

IMHO, even if you pull the nest and the martins run off a HOSP in a highly occupied house, why push the HOSP problem to someone else's martin housing area or even worse, to their bluebird housing?

I respect everyone's right to handle HOSP as they see fit and they can tolerate, however, I wonder what the impact is on our other nesting birds and our neighbor's martins, when a ticked off HOSP leaves a martin site and is even more determined to find a nesting site?

I have multiple neighbors who have martins now and I have full occupancy. If all I did was pull nests, I would doom their martins & bluebirds, as they are not near as vigilant as I am and I think that is truly unfair to them. Besides, even if the HOSP left, he would certainly find somewhere to breed and come back in even greater numbers next year. You're just prolonging the problem.

I personally kill every one of them I can get my hands on. When I first moved here, I was invaded by over 30 HOSP. Last year, I only had 3 or 4 show up. This year, I've trapped 8 so far. I'll never reach zero, but at least I'm not dealing with huge numbers anymore.

Just my $.02 - YMMV.

bwenger · Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:48 pm

Hope,

I would try getting a bluebird house or two with a Van Ert traps to install in them. If the sparrows get tired of you cleaning out their nests from the PM house, they may move into an easily accessible bluebird house with 1.5 inch hole and you can trap them easily without having to raise and lower your house all of the time.

It works for me.

Bill