Keeping Sparrows Out of Martin Nests

[ARD]

Forgive me for asking a question that probably has been asked. I couldnt find it using search.
So if I understand correctly, the martins dont have a sense of smell, that is why checking the nests do not bother them. Correct? So if that is the case, can you sprinkle pepper in the nests and will that keep sparrows out? I'm building a sparrow trap, just not completed yet, and have 4 males show up yesterday to stake claim to the gourds of their choice, but are having to battle the sparrows. Has anyone done something like this?

[flyin-lowe]

There isn't anything you do to a martin nest that would deter sparrows and not bother the martins. Unfortunately trapping or ridding of them by other means is the only way to make sure they do not harm a martin colony.

[dsonyay]

Forgive me for asking a question that probably has been asked. I couldnt find it using search.
So if I understand correctly, the martins dont have a sense of smell, that is why checking the nests do not bother them. Correct? So if that is the case, can you sprinkle pepper in the nests and will that keep sparrows out? I'm building a sparrow trap, just not completed yet, and have 4 males show up yesterday to stake claim to the gourds of their choice, but are having to battle the sparrows. Has anyone done something like this?

Martins have a sense of smell. The reason they dont mind nest checks is because they are used to human interaction and the drive to raise offspring is very strong .. they will not abandon eggs/chicks under these circumstances.

One of my ways to get rid of HS (my final step when all others fail ) is to let the HS build a nest.. then let them lay their eggs.. once they do that I drop a glue trap inside, with the eggs on top. Works like a charm. The PM will not enter a HS Nest. I usually drop a glue trap inside and patient wait.. within minutes one or both return. Has never failed. As soon as they are trapped, I lower the rack, remove the HS and euthanize.

Like I said earlier.. this is my final choice. If they are too hard to take out with air rifle, and too hard to trap on ground - or with my gourd rack mounted trap .. the glue trap method will work especially if there are eggs.

And also.. stand stand by when glue traps are used.

[ARD]

Thanks for that info. I never thought of the glue trap.

[John Miller]

Almost never use a glue trap. A martin will indeed sometimes enter a house sparrow nest. In large excluder gourds, I've even had them nest in the small space available after a house sparrow had nearly clogged the interior. Once when starting to clean out a house sparrow nest from such a gourd, with young, I paused to look more closely at the not yet feathered young and realized I was tossing out martin babies.

When placing a regular trap in a martin cavity to catch house sparrows, if martins are present one should shim the entrance down to block martins. On a crescent, one can bring the sides in so the width of the opening is no more than 1.5 inches and house sparrows will enter (if they have an active nest) but in my experience not martins. Make a shim by creating a hole in a cover plate out of aluminum or plastic and attach some way. Even then, glue might be risky. I have in the past tried to shim crescents up from the bottom about 1/8 inch figuring a martin could not enter my trap, but one did, and was released.

Foremost, do no harm... house sparrow control requires diligence and patience.

[dsonyay]

Almost never use a glue trap. A martin will indeed sometimes enter a house sparrow nest. In large excluder gourds, I've even had them nest in the small space available after a house sparrow had nearly clogged the interior. Once when starting to clean out a house sparrow nest from such a gourd, with young, I paused to look more closely at the not yet feathered young and realized I was tossing out martin babies.

When placing a regular trap in a martin cavity to catch house sparrows, if martins are present one should shim the entrance down to block martins. On a crescent, one can bring the sides in so the width of the opening is no more than 1.5 inches and house sparrows will enter (if they have an active nest) but in my experience not martins. Make a shim by creating a hole in a cover plate out of aluminum or plastic and attach some way. Even then, glue might be risky. I have in the past tried to shim crescents up from the bottom about 1/8 inch figuring a martin could not enter my trap, but one did, and was released.

Foremost, do no harm... house sparrow control requires diligence and patience.

Yes even better to alter the entrance hole. A sure-fire way to prevent a martin from entering.

When I've done the glue traps, I was right there watching carefully. The HS nests are so trashy and cramped, Ive never seen a martin even attempt to get inside. But yes alter the entrance hole to 100prcnt safe

[bird fan]

Glue traps work and will always work to dispatch a sparrow but what happens when a Martin enters and is now a victim of the glue trap how do you get them off the trap?
Well the answer is simple, first don't panic and don't peel the bird from the glue, gently take the bird and spray Pam cooking spray on the part of bird that is glued down
be careful not to get into the birds eyes or if you can, spray the Pam in a container and us a paint brush and brush it on the bird, when yo get the bird free try to gently remove
as much oil as you can from the bird, this happened to me once and it worked I didn't lose the Martin he simply flew back on his porch my wife however didn't like the idea
that I had a live Martin in our kitchen I used warm water and it broke down the Pam really nice.

[dsonyay]

Yep Pam will work. I’ve used glue traps a lot. Ive waited for the HS to build a nest and lay eggs. It’s never failed and have yet to have a martin to try to go inside an occupied (nest stuffed) HS cavity. But I guess it’s not impossible.

Being able to make the hole smaller once the nest is HS occupied would guarantee a martin won’t go inside.

[brent]

Where do you by glue traps? I have a persistent sparrow. I've been able to chase him away but I have a feeling...Last year I lost to a pair at the end of the season so I patiently waited until eggs were laid. I set up the universal sparrow trap and they would not go back in. They started another nest and again the same thing. They just abandoned the nest. By that time it was over but I could not catch them.
Brent

[Rafke77]

I have 3 lines of defense. High quality, scoped in pellet gun, it's extremely accurate and I drop the sparrows from the gourd porch.

Repeating sparrow trap I keep on the ground away from my gourd rack. Once you get a female in there, heck even a male, they pull many more in.

Lastly, if I can't get to it with a pellet gun, I have the trap door which mounts to the gourd. When the sparrow enters it drops the door. I'll take the gourd off, put a bag around the entrance lift the door and scare it into the bag. I'll quickly slam the bag on the ground and the sparrow is dispatched.

[brent]

Rafke77, what kind of gun/scope do you have?
Brent

[Rafke77]

Rafke77, what kind of gun/scope do you have?
Brent

Air Arms TX200 MKIII, I forgot the scope off hand, I'll quote you and update this when I'm next to it again.

[Rafke77]

Rafke77, what kind of gun/scope do you have?
Brent

Brent,
The scope is UTG 30mm Swat 3-12x44. It's a good scope, I might purchase one with a better zoom in the future, but realistically a pellet gun is going to be difficult to keep that accurate at 50+ yards. My Martin rack is about 75 ft from my sliding door, and it's sighted in for that. Oh, I'm using JSB Diablo Match 8.44gr 4.5 mm .17cal. they truly are match for the gun.

-Rob

[Black Jack]

Yep Pam will work. I’ve used glue traps a lot. Ive waited for the HS to build a nest and lay eggs. It’s never failed and have yet to have a martin to try to go inside an occupied (nest stuffed) HS cavity. But I guess it’s not impossible.

Being able to make the hole smaller once the nest is HS occupied would guarantee a martin won’t go inside.

I have never used glue traps for that. Only rodents. I would use mineral oil. That is what vets use when some other poor critter is caught in a glue trap.

[dsonyay]

Where do you by glue traps?
Brent

Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware. Or Amazon

[dsonyay]

Another thing about glue traps.. agter the martins are gone, HS will continue to nest long after until later summer. Glue trap use then is even safer. No martins will be around at all and you can continue to rid them.

My other method is a scoped air rifle. It is by far the most enjoyable of the two.

I’ve got a pretty good ground trap, but it rarely catches HS. Don't know why.. I’ve tried all the tricks people use to attract them.

[flyin-lowe]

I've used glue traps as a last option. I just cut a hole in a plastic lid from a cottage cheese container or something similar and make it small enough so martins cant get in. I put it on and still watch it until I catch the HOSP.

[dsonyay]

I've used glue traps as a last option. I just cut a hole in a plastic lid from a cottage cheese container or something similar and make it small enough so martins cant get in. I put it on and still watch it until I catch the HOSP.

Excellent tip