House Sparrows Cohabitating?

[catoscar]

Hello

I have a Gourd rack set up with 12 Troyer gourds. My question is can HB cohabitate with Martins?
3 of my 12 gourds are occupied with HB and now all 3 HB pairs have laid eggs. My Martins who nest in the other 9 gourds do not seem to mind the HS's. Should I just leave the 3 house sparrows gourds alone and let them be as my concern with removing their nesting seeing they have eggs is HB revenge on the Martins,

I also have 4 Trio Martin houses with 12 compartments each. In these I use the Trio sparrow door traps to eliminate HS from their nesting. However with the gourds I don't have any gourd traps and therefore eliminating them from my gourds is almost impossible.

Any advise or suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

What does HB stand for? Never heard of that!

[marcus]

You could maybe use a sticky mouse trap. Just be really careful that a martin doesn't get in it.

[Rockchalk]

I'd pull the HS nest out eggs included before they hatch. Then try to eliminate the HS's. You are already trapping them. Why make more?

[Ed Svetich-WI]

First thing is to ignore the suggestion about the sticky trap. They are indiscriminate killers. Secondly, your first mistake was letting the sparrows get this far. Others will relate how vicious sparrows can be once their nests and especially young are eliminated. They will take out their rage on your martins. Sparrows should never be allowed to nest.

Good luck.

Ed

[-=DKC=-]

No sticky traps unless you want to kill Purple Martins.

House Sparrows can live alongside Martins until they can't. You may get through a season with no disasters because of them or they may kill all eggs and babies. It's very risky.

I would suggest DO NOT remove HS nests with eggs until you've killed both adults in the pair. If you do they are highly likely to attack your Martins, eggs and babies. Minimally, put the HS eggs in very hot (not quite boiling) water for a couple of minutes and then replace them in the nest. This will sterilize them so they won't hatch. Other people poke a pin hole in them or shake them to achieve the same thing. They will sit on the eggs for weeks although they will probably lay new ones. Mark the sterilized eggs with a sharpie so you know which ones are sterilized.

This will give you more time to get rid of the HS.

[Spiderman]

Troyer has a trap in their catalog you could purchase for your gourds. Just catch the sparrows one by one and leave the nest and eggs alone.

I found Starlings could lift the slide and escape the trap. I added a 2 oz weight to the slide and caught 22 Starlings, most this spring before the Martins arrived.

Good Luck, there are always new challenges to over come.

[Mitch Booth]

Hello

I have a Gourd rack set up with 12 Troyer gourds. My question is can HB cohabitate with Martins?
3 of my 12 gourds are occupied with HB and now all 3 HB pairs have laid eggs. My Martins who nest in the other 9 gourds do not seem to mind the HS's. Should I just leave the 3 house sparrows gourds alone and let them be as my concern with removing their nesting seeing they have eggs is HB revenge on the Martins,

I also have 4 Trio Martin houses with 12 compartments each. In these I use the Trio sparrow door traps to eliminate HS from their nesting. However with the gourds I don't have any gourd traps and therefore eliminating them from my gourds is almost impossible.

Any advise or suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

Catoscar what type of bird is cohabitating with your Martins? What are HB’s?

Mitch

[detioh11]

I agree with what some of the others have said. In 2016 I had one pair of Martin’s and one pair of hs that I couldn’t seem to trap or shoot. They laid eggs and I dunked them in vegetable oil for a minute and then. Potted them dry. I put them back in the nest and the hs never suspected a thing. This kept the eggs from hatching and didn’t make the sparrows mad. I wound up finally getting a shot at the female but never did get the male. Tearing out the nest will only infuriate them. Keep trying to find a way to trap or shoot them.

[lynnh]

Sticky traps work just great as long as you're smart enough to use them correctly . Main thing is you want to downsize your entrance hole so the Martin's can't get in and you watch it like a hawk if you can't stay there and watch it till it's all over do not try this method .

[Brad-AL]

20 gauge shotgun with high brass #6's is my recipe for eliminating nesting sparrows. The Martins will be back on the gourd rack by the time your ears quit ringing.

[lynnh]

LOL mine to Brad but I figure when the guy comes on about needing some advice for trapping either doesn't know how to use a gun or he is in city limits and can't legally do so .

[lynnh]

Oops double posted

[James A Lenz]

Sticky traps work just great as long as you're smart enough to use them correctly . Main thing is you want to downsize your entrance hole so the Martin's can't get in and you watch it like a hawk if you can't stay there and watch it till it's all over do not try this method .

What are the sure thing measurements to reduce the hole too to make sure matins can’t get in the gourd so you can use a sticky trap?

[James A Lenz]

Ok I saw a post on this thread stating you never should have let the sparrows get this far in their nesting. So what should a correct response have been when a person first notices a sparrow trying to start a nest? If your sparrows are too smart to get trapped or shot. Should you just tear out the nest daily, because this could enrage the sparrow as well. I’m just trying to understand the correct actions to take when this occurs. Please explain.

[lynnh]

Inch and 3/8 James

[Ed Svetich-WI]

As to the size hole that martins can squeeze into, I have a blue bird Super Gourd and the trap specifically for sparrows which used to plague me.The hole measures 1 3/8 ". A female Martin got in. I was monitoring the trap and was surprised to find her. I was expecting a sparrow.

It seems that sparrows do like a smaller hole than the more commonly used martin entries. It may be the somewhat darker cavity, but it does require close monitoring. Just like starlings, martins can also be somewhat smaller than the norm, especially early in the season. I watched an ASY male trying to get in a couple weeks ago. He was unsuccessful. I removed the trap anyway. I can always hang it if sparrows show up.

It's always something. Have a good season.

Ed

[lynnh]

The chances of a purple Martin or any other bird for that matter even be able to land on the porch of a sparrow nest cavity with eggs in it are very slim As we all know the male house sparrow is a very fierce defender of his nest!!

[James A Lenz]

The chances of a purple Martin or any other bird for that matter even be able to land on the porch of a sparrow nest cavity with eggs in it are very slim As we all know the male house sparrow is a very fierce defender of his nest!!

That is a very good point my issue would be that whenever I walk out in the yard the sparrows cut and run. It may take them a min or two to realize I have left the yard.

[Matt F.]

In my humble opinion, all traps for houses and/or gourds sold by the PMCA should come standard with a cheap, easy to use restrictor plate/hole reducer, that can be easily clipped on where needed to block Martins and not interfere with the trapping functions.