Daytime Chatter attracks HOSPs???

[SE Wisc hopefull]

3 years trying to get a colony started... had some young males visit and hang out a few weeks last year without attracting a mate. More brief visit in fall. Great open location with large cavity houses and gourds with Starling resistant entrances. Thought I did a great job cleaning out the HOSPs this spring (15 so far).

Playing the Dawn Song and so far nothing. Added the daytime chatter during the day and as soon as I did it seemed like the HOSPs came out of the woodwork. Caught and shot 6 so far, but this Saturday I had my first visitor and out of nowhere a couple HOSPs ran him off... arghhh. Trapped them, but now I'm afraid of playing daytime chatter and drawing in more HOSPs ... am I imaging this or does the day time chatter actually draw in HOSPs?

[C.C.Martins]

First great job! Sounds like your doing the exact right things. Hope this is your year!
I don't know for a fact about the dawn song drawing them. Iv noticed the martin activity sure draws their attention though. If I had to guess, I'd suspect yes. I know they sure come to sparrow calls on my phone. And they are very, very competitive.

Why not play it, it seems to be working in both respects, martins are drawn in and any sparrows drawn, well, you have that well in hand.
Just my 2 cents,
Tom

[SE Wisc hopefull]

Thanks Tom,

Crazy that after, what I felt was cleaning out the area of sparrows this spring (16), then as soon as I started playing the daytime chatter, they arrived in droves from who knows where. So far have caught another 6, with a couple more males to go. The method that works best by far is to trap one in the cavity trap and then move it to the repeating ST-1 trap. Then I can catch them all in a day or so ... it's just keeping an eye on the trap to keep resetting it. I've had as many as 7 in there at once ... best bait by far is a sparrow, beats bread, seed or nesting material by a country mile.

2nd best feeling is coming home from work and seeing a couple in the trap ... (1st best would be a pair of PMs on the house).

[C.C.Martins]

Sir, sounds like you and I are cut from the same cloth...fantastic job!!!! Nail them. The st1 is a great trap. And agree 100%. Best bait is another sparrow.
I'm currently watching a ring camera I put out yesterday, focus of my attention is a male and female house sparrow who have set up somewhere out of view. I can hear them, see them occasionally so this afternoon out goes the st1. They aren't bothering the gourds.
Think about a blains ground trap, pop them in, keep them alive, and sure enough here comes the visitors...shoot them off the trap.
I think of it as a buffer around the martins.

[Dave Reynolds]

Keep up the great work... Get those Sparrows as soon as you can.. I don't think you can get rid of them all but you can sure put a dent in them.. Keep doing the things you are doing. and things may change for ya. By the way, I played the Dawn Song, and they came. I didn't like the sound of the Day time chatter, so I never played it. Good Luck

Dave

[SE Wisc hopefull]

I think I caught the last 6 HOSPs this week (total this year at 26) no HOSP activity today so maybe over the hump. I did have to close up the gourds as the Tree Swallows started in (I think they are drawn to daytime chatter also) ... they were not happy and dive bombed me the whole time.
Now waiting for the return of the sub adults. First sighting and i will reopen.

So far only two sub adult reports in Wisconsin ... question- is that accurate? seems like not alot of reports, are they just not here yet or is there poor reporting of subadults?
thanks
Rob

[defed]

I think I caught the last 6 HOSPs this week (total this year at 26) no HOSP activity today so maybe over the hump. I did have to close up the gourds as the Tree Swallows started in (I think they are drawn to daytime chatter also) ... they were not happy and dive bombed me the whole time.
Now waiting for the return of the sub adults. First sighting and i will reopen.

So far only two sub adult reports in Wisconsin ... question- is that accurate? seems like not alot of reports, are they just not here yet or is there poor reporting of subadults?
thanks
Rob

i can say for certain that any PM sounds attract TS like crazy. i haven't played anything in a cpl yrs since i've had a cpl pair they seem to find me on their own, but i still have to close up the gourds until the TS go away. an ASY male showed up, i went out to open a few, and then the TS come back. luckily he does not seem to be deterred by them so he must have been an SY here last yr.

[flyin-lowe]

The number of people who report SY's is lower than those who report the ASY's. So it is hard to say but it would be early in the migration for them that far north.