Making Sure we Attract Martin's

[RPGR90s]

We live on a lake in southern MI and put up our house a week ago (12 room apartment style, about 12 feet up, right on the water). We've had the same house for seven years now and love that they stay with us.
There's three or four martin's hanging out on the upper structures and roof, but the sparrow's seem to be taking over.

Over the last week, we noticed about eight of the apartments have nests, with the sparrow's hanging out on those porches. The sparrow's are seen bringing branches, grass, etc. so it seems as they are the ones building the nests. Most of them are about 25% complete and look like flat circles.

So my wife and felt it was right to remove them. But now we're not seeing the purple martin's anymore. Did we possibly remove martin nests by accident?

1. How can I tell the difference between a sparrow nest and a martin? And should I wait before the nests are completed before trying to identify and remove the sparrow's?
2. Should I just leave the house alone and not interfere?

Thanks for your help,

RPG

[SE Wisc hopefull]

For me, I like to give the sparrows a day or so to build their nest. Its unmistakable as it will be jammed packed ... then I put my cavity trap in that apartment without removing the nesting material. Within 15 min I will catch either the male or female, which i will then transfer to the center section of the repeating wire trap. Within an hour the other will enter that trap along with any other sparrows in the area.

Last year that netted me 42 HOSPs

Works for me, I'm a moderate shot, but i find them so crafty its hard to get a clean shot off unless you have the time to hang out in a blind,

[scottfreidhof]

Every Michigan martin and Michigan martin colony manager like you is important! The title of your post makes it clear that you are dedicated to their success. Since you observed house sparrows carrying nest material into those 8 cavities, the martins were not negatively affected by removing the nests. Not sure why the martins disappeared but hopefully they have returned since your original post. If not maybe the sparrow pressure was too much for them this year.

I imagine that the sparrows have rebuilt their nests with even more vigor since the nests were removed. I agree with SE Wisc hopefull that the next step is to catch the sparrows before removing nests again. Traps inserted into the house cavities is a great way to catch them. In addition to insert traps, you might try a ground trap baited with mixed bird seed. A simple walk-in trap has worked for me and it gives you two methods working at the same time to reduce numbers of sparrows.

[scottfreidhof]

RPG if you would like some personal help with removing house sparrows, there are two martin mentors close to you. One is located in Hudson and the other in Clarklake. Their contact information can be found on the PMCA martin mentor page at the link below. Scroll down to the map and zoom in on your part of the state.

https://www.purplemartin.org/education/ ... r-program/