Battling HOSP in BO9 Gourds - Recommendations Appreciated

msalcido · Sun Jun 01, 2014 12:31 pm

My neighbor up the street from finally has two pair of Martins nesting in her gourds. Problem is that in one of the other gourds, a HOSP has taken up residency. I have a Universal Sparrow Trap but it is to wide and does not fit into the gourd -

How do I take trap this HOSP? Thoughts and recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Emil Pampell-Tx · Sun Jun 01, 2014 12:47 pm

I would try to lower the gourds late in the day, use a stepladder that is set into place, very quietly close the entrance hole during the night with a rock or a long stick. Remove the sparrow the next day. In order for this to work, you must wait until the sparrow is sitting on eggs (incubating the eggs)

The sparrow will not be interested in other nestbox traps, but a bait trap may work

msalcido · Sun Jun 01, 2014 5:08 pm

Thanks Emil - no sparrow eggs as of now. By doing your method, wouldn't that scare them off at night, even the Martins?

Emil Pampell-Tx · Sun Jun 01, 2014 5:34 pm

You do not move anything at night, get set up during daylight hours. Please notice the word silently

Just a suggestion, you do not need to follow it, but it works for me.

Jose Rodriguez · Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:08 am

We have sparrows and we have starlings living in a dead tree at my neighbors backyard. After I took off any form of perching/porches from the entrance of our BO9 gourds and added a cling plate to my BO9s we had no sparrows or starlings problems. It was a good feeling watching the sparrows and starlings try to figure out how to get in. They gave up and went elsewhere.

Just my two cents. Good Luck!

jr 2 · Mon Jun 02, 2014 2:19 pm

my last ditch solution too catch a hs is after you see it go in a certain gourd you cut a piece of glue trap and lay on inside porch of gourd[ you have too monitor];;this has worked every time for me;;;;jr2

msalcido · Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:11 pm

Emil Pampell-Tx wrote:You do not move anything at night, get set up during daylight hours. Please notice the word silently

Just a suggestion, you do not need to follow it, but it works for me.

Got it Emil - now I understand what you are saying.

Jose - that is great to know. Unfortunately, we have modified the B09's so that we have the tunnel entrances. We can't remove the tunnels otherwise, it will just be an open gourd.

JR - can you please elaborate a bit more about the glue traps? Are these the same that people use to catch mice?

Matt F. · Tue Jun 03, 2014 8:35 am

Mike,
Forum member Bill Hyde just posted this on the "Spare-O-Door" thread:

Bill Hyde wrote:I most heartily agree that the Spare-o-Door is wonderful I had a Trio Castle 24 that never had a nesting pair of martins, so I retired it from service. Not wanting to waste the two Spare-o-Door traps, I invested in a couple Bo-9 gourds, tinkered a bit and fitted the traps to the fronts of the gourds
Problem solved.

msalcido · Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:27 am

Thanks Matt. Not sure this will works since I have the tunnels on the B09.

I'll check with Bill.

Thanks again!

Rick Meyer · Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:30 am

Brilliant idea Jose,
So I have an Alamo house.....if I take off all the porches and add cling plates I won't have to deal with these pests anymore? I was about to throw in the towel. Or is this just for swinging gourds?

Emil Pampell-Tx · Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:07 pm

Rick, the clingplates alone will not keep out the trash birds all the time. They may keep out most of them, but not all of them. They get wise to the clingplates and fly straight into the gourd in some cases.

Swinging gourds will not keep out the trash birds

You may as well face the fact, you eventually will find that you must trap or shoot them, there is no other surefire way.

A good trap like the spar-o-door helps tremendously. I make my own traps, and if you use SREH on your housing to keep out the starlings, then you can use a trap that a martin cannot enter to trap the sparrows. Most of the time, the sparrows will quickly go to a trap that is at the lowest cavities. and position it so that its on the back side of the housing. Sparrows do not like to be seen, they prefer the backside traps.

Chuck4 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 2:27 pm

Emil Pampell-Tx wrote:Rick, the clingplates alone will not keep out the trash birds all the time. They may keep out most of them, but not all of them. They get wise to the clingplates and fly straight into the gourd in some cases.

.

Emil is correct, although I witnessed this with my BB house. I was experimenting with monofilament line placement, so as to prevent the HOSP from getting a place to land near the entrance hole. It just flew directly into the box. I did end up trapping it with a Huber style trap the next day.

It's true, the ONLY way is to trap or shoot.

Scully · Tue Jun 03, 2014 2:27 pm

Use duct tape to cover half the entrance hole, preventing any martins from entering but still admitting the sparrows.

Then you can place a snap trap or piece of a glue trap inside the gourd.

What we do at our colony is take down the invaded gourd and put up a Natureline with a shimmed-down trap entrance in its place....

It doesn't matter if the gourd doesn't look the same as the original, if it is hung in the same position on the rack the sparrows will investigate it anyway.

Mike Scully

Rick Meyer · Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:51 pm

Thanks Emil,
.....what you say makes sense. I guess there's no easy way.

msalcido · Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:08 pm

Mike Scully - this makes a lot of sense to me! Thanks for sharing your idea. As for the glue trap -is it just a normal rat glue trap?

jr 2 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 10:13 am

yes;;;;the glue trap is just a normal mouse glue trap;;;;I just cut a piece and put it on the inside porch of my tunneled bo11 gourds;;;jr2

msalcido · Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:10 pm

I tried the glue trap and it worked. The male is down and the nest with 4 eggs has been destroyed. Question is - will the female stay around and try to rebuild and "bully" the Martins or will she move on?

JR 2- thanks for the suggestion of the glue trap.

Emil Pampell-Tx · Fri Jun 06, 2014 5:02 pm

Congratulations on the glue trap.

Sometimes the female comes back, builds another nest. They are sneaky, keep a close eye so you can see her going into the cavity. Of course, sometimes she does not come back. The thing about martins, they all may act differently, just like people, no definite answers

jr 2 · Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:02 pm

mike;;glad the glue trap worked;;;this is my first year of trying it!!!!!!I also have 4 spar-a-door ttraps that usually get most of the sparrows;;;I think I have eliminated about 28 this this year;;;just got one the other day in spar-a-door trap;;;;;wishing you lots of martins;;;;jr2

John Miller · Sat Jun 07, 2014 5:12 pm

The female will not defend the nest. If it were earlier in the season, this often then allows a martin pair to claim the unit. I used to always say the female would abandon, but this has been declared to be a myth by others here. So I'm opened minded -- except when I'm not -- and will suggest that at this point in the season, she may hang nearby, and be ready to accept a new mate and start re-building if a new guy arrives. Banding studies would be needed to confirm this. But if you got the male, he's the immediate threat.

John