Advice needed.....

DornCounty · Tue May 07, 2013 7:56 am

I've got a tricky situation...

It seems a male HOSP has claimed a nest that a pair was working on at the public colony. They are attempting to evict him, but the battle rages on.

I can not sit and monitor this house. I have 1 hr for lunch and maybe 15 mins after work.

What I don't want to do is put the sparrow door on the chamber and essentially exclude the martins. Would that make the martins move on to a different colony?

I may try a short lunch trap session today as I don't think one hour would make the martins leave and I could nab him if he is locked on the site. The thing is this is the only nest in that house so there are 11 other cavities this guy could have picked other than the one with the martin nest in it. I have a sparrow door in the cavity next to it, but he hasn't gone in.

Any thoughts?

DebA · Tue May 07, 2013 8:01 am

The little bugger. Since he is so fixated I bet you stand a great chance of catching him ASAP. What a nice view to sit and eat your sandwich and watch him march in. Boy, I have become HS sadistic.

Since I just started with my insert trap I have been surprised how it has taken them by surprise and captured some so quickly. So I say give it a try. Any try you are able to is better than not. Good luck. Happy hunting.

Deb

Glynn B - LA · Tue May 07, 2013 8:47 am

why not just switch doors. Let him have theirs with the sparrow door for a moment and them the other compartment with the regular entrance.

Matt F. · Tue May 07, 2013 10:53 am

I'm with the others Dorn.
In that situation, I'd go ahead and put the Spare-O-Door on that compartment that both the sparrow and the Martins are fighting over.
I would think the while the Spare-O-Door is on, the Martins will switch to another, non-occupied compartment.
You never know, if you catch the sparrow quickly enough, they may just pickup where they left off on that same compartment.
Keep us posted.....I love hearing about your lunchtime trapping ops

DornCounty · Tue May 07, 2013 11:46 am

I will try the lunch time op and let you guys know. may even leave it on till evening as the martins are likely to be out feeding then.

Rick Meyer · Tue May 07, 2013 1:00 pm

It seems HOSP are ridiculous this year. Put up my house a couple of days ago. Within 30 minutes guess what.........Mr HOSP! I was ticked. Promptly went to get my pellet gun and took him out. The next day.....A Pair of HOSP! Took out the male as he was collecting items for the nest in my yard. Cool. I figured the female would bug out after seeing the male so viciously assassinated.........hell no. Within an hour she had a new male just before dark. Unreal!!!!!! Hope they had a real good day today cause it's game on. Closely monitored sticky traps and a shotgun to back it up when I get home.

DornCounty · Tue May 07, 2013 1:09 pm

well no dice on moving the trap to the compartment with the nest. I lowered the house and the female came down with it. She had not intention on moving either. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had birds come down with the house. Anyway after looking at the nest I would have to destroy the martin nest to put the trap in. I am leaving it and hoping they can convince the sparrows to pick a different cavity. She even had green leaves in it.

Matt F. · Tue May 07, 2013 1:33 pm

DornCounty wrote:well no dice on moving the trap to the compartment with the nest. I lowered the house and the female came down with it. She had not intention on moving either. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had birds come down with the house. Anyway after looking at the nest I would have to destroy the martin nest to put the trap in. I am leaving it and hoping they can convince the sparrows to pick a different cavity. She even had green leaves in it.

Good call Dorn.
You're right. The Martins definitely sound committed to that cavity.......

DornCounty · Tue May 07, 2013 9:33 pm

Well stopped by after work and the sparrows nearly had the chamber packed full... so I removed the martin nest and put it in a different cavity, putting the trap in the cavity the sparrows wanted.

Well when I came back the sparrows had moved with the nest, even after I had removed all their work they contributed.

Ugh.

Louise Chambers · Wed May 08, 2013 8:33 am

Getting those last house sparrows can be so tough at a public site - they are smart, at times. I am trying for one last male at the public site I help with - no dice but won't give up. At least he's got no mate at present.

I think public site managers like you, John Miller, Larry Melcher, and many others, deserve a BIG standing ovation from the martin community

What you're doing in Parsons is helping the martins so much, and will reach so many people, great job, Andrew!

John Miller · Wed May 08, 2013 8:57 am

Daryl Lindstrom has multiple martin sites in MN and into WI. He's a busy young teacher, I think, and so not on here chirping as much. I'm partly retired and have time to chirp more.

John M

Matt F. · Wed May 08, 2013 9:57 am

Louise Chambers wrote:I think public site managers like you, John Miller, Larry Melcher, and many others, deserve a BIG standing ovation from the martin community What you're doing in Parsons is helping the martins so much, and will reach so many people, great job, Andrew!

You are so right Louise!