Starling house distance from PM house?

[betaflame]

As starlings are abundant and also eat insects, if I wanted to put out a house for one or two pairs, how far from the pm house would be appropriate(100ft?)... Or is this a bad idea?

[Louise Chambers]

Not a good idea, as starlings will kill adult martins - even when given a house of their own. There is no safe distance. But there are numerous native species of birds that eat insects, and some will use nest boxes - chickadees, woodpeckers, bluebirds, tree swallows, titmice, flycatchers, warblers to name a few. And nesting ledges for robins, phoebes, swallows like barn swallows. I suggest exploring those options - it's fun and it helps the birds.

[flyin-lowe]

Even if you have SREH on your martin housing there are other native cavity nesters that will be killed by the starlings. Bad idea.

[mwren]

betaflame,
Bad idea for sure. Starlings are the ultimate big time bully of the skys. They will not only kill purple martins, but they will challenge and win against every other cavityty nesting bird you can think of. Help your martin colony, don't do anything to help the starling. Look around and watch the millions and millions of starlings as they bulldoze their way around North America.

[flyin-lowe]

I was going to mention earlier and forgot. It might only seem like a couple pair of starlings but those pairs could be responsible for thousands of young as they start breeding and their offspring start breeding. Getting rid of them seems like an endless fight but every little bit help.

[betaflame]

Sounds like a no.

Bluebird houses instead then?

[Spiderman]

Starlings really do destroy local native bird populations.

I have found a Troyer horizontal Gourd with a round hole to be a magnet for Starlings. They have a trap that they also sell it consists of a sliding door with a trigger.

I added a 2 oz weight to the slide so the Starlings could not lift the slide with their beak & escape (nobody said Starlings weren't smart).

By eliminating a couple per day last year I trapped over 30 Starlings before the Martins began building nests. This year so far we are Starling free at our location. I think I caught most of the Starlings in my area.

[nikkihaddox]

Not a good idea to put a house up for starlings when trying to raise Martins as well. As the others stated they will not get along.

[Dave Duit]

Bluebird houses ok if not near your martins. Bluebird will compete for your martin cavities as well. I'm all for blue birds, just don't allow them to take up residence in your martin housing. Basically, dedicate your yard to martins and not other bird species. Robin nesting boxes are fine and I'm sure there are other acceptable bird houses. Starling, tree swallow, wren houses are a no no. See tree swallow protocal if necessary.

[rrmartins]

You’d be better off for the martins, to make traps out of the houses and start extinguishing them as fast as you can catch them. They are our enemy’s!!

[-=DKC=-]

If you want something that eats bugs, how about a bat house? I don't think bats pose any competition to Purple Martins. And apparently there are lots of bats in Austin.

Starlings are doing just fine without human assistance.