Handmade SREH crescent entries

[roblrich]

I am making a few handmade SREH crescent entires on natural gourds. Now I realize that these aren't as perfect as the factory cookie cutter entries, but they do look good after I have done a few.

But a question. In case I make one of these entries slightly larger than the 1 3/16ths at the peak radius, as in 1 1/4", wouldn't it still be harder (or will it be easier) for Starlings to enter the gourd without porches? Although I will not be putting on any porches on these hand carved entry naturals, I still wonder what will be easier for the Starlings to enter. Crescents with or without porches? I would guess without porches would be harder for them, but I've never experimented with this.

[Dave S (Texas)]

The flyin'-rats would just love you if you made the SREs a little larger and put on a nice porch for them. Making the SREs to proper dimension isn't at all difficult if you follow the directions.

[roblrich]

Porches flush with crescents are a deterrent for Starlings as they have long legs. That is what I meant with the porch/no porch question.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I either start over and make a new one if a SREH is oversize, or I try to make it small by putting an adhesive like PPCA on it, and then resizing it to the right size...Seems a lot more simple to get it right than to experiment. If you like to experiment, then thats also good as that is how we learn.

[roblrich]

Now if I make a mistake by having them too large, I will just hole saw it out and put in a S&K entry. But I was wondering if the crescent was slightly larger than designed, would it be harder for the starling to enter with or without the porch if the porch was flush? My thinking is if you have a porch that is flush and the starling cannot enter, you might get away with a crescent a 1/16th of an inch or so larger than desired if you don't have a porch.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

roblrich, its your site, your entrances, your choice, so why not do as you please? I surely do want you to try whatever you wish..we all like to experiment.

[John Miller]

Robert


I've been observing others and doing some testing myself on this. My conclusion is that you can keep most starlings out of a crescent opened to 7/32 if it's porchless ( Mike Brown, Kentucky, is convinced of this for most starlings) or with a porch that sits flush to no more than one-fourth inch below. I like about 3/16 below. Flush is harder on some martins.

We do know that starlings can push to enter standard crescents with a porch that's one-half inch below, so I conclude that within this crescent range of 1 3/16 to 1 7/32, the placement of the porch -- or no porch -- is vital.

Nice looking gourds you have.


John Miller

[roblrich]

I was just trying to bounce the idea (if you have a porch that is flush and the starling cannot enter, you might get away with a crescent a 1/16th of an inch or so larger than desired if you don't have a porch) off some others. I sometimes overthink even the simplist of things.

Dave got me to thinking about a private message he sent me, and probably he is correct in that the cresecents were designed giving no thought to porches whatsoever. But I really don't think a 1/16th of an inch will make a lot of difference, but I shall find out this spring as (I am sure you have guessed by now) I have one gourd with a crescent 1 1/4" in peak radius instead of the desired 1 3/16ths.

[Louise Chambers]

Rob,

the first crescents were designed for houses, with porches, back in 1992 by Charles McEwen of New Brunswick. You can read his story under Update, Landlord of the Year.

Since then, SREH have bounced all over the place - we know that they can work, on both houses and gourds, with and without porches. None of them are 100% starling proof, though Excluders are 99.9%

What works fine for one landlord may not work as well for another - lots of landlords like to experiment, and you probably will enjoy doing that to see what work's best for your martins.

I don't think there is a 'one best way' rule that works everywhere. You can read more about various types of SREH in the Forum archives.

Louise

[roblrich]

Thanks for the replies. I was not very confident at first doing the crescents, so I came on and asked a question and started this thread. But actually, once I changed my measuring tape to my Stanley, and compared the crescent I was forming with my pattern I was using (a S&K entrance port), I soon learned that I wasn't bad at all doing it.

I did get one too large from my very first cut going out of the pattern, but I just sawed it out with a 4.25" hole saw and will put in a S&K crescent in that gourd. But the rest are fine and as far as I can tell (I don't have calipers) they are all 1 3/16". I seemed to have more of a problem, believe it or not, getting them the exact 3" wide. But I finally settled for 2 15/16" on a couple. But they seem to line up great with the S&K crescent I compared them too.

For now on, I will cut out crescents on all my naturals. I like them better, think the PM's will like them better or as well (than the S&K's), they seem to look better & cleaner, plus I will save $3 on the S&K's. Sorry Dave.

[TreeGreenwood]

I suffered from and then seccumbed to SREH anxiety. After seeing Martins peek into my houses' SREH, I sanded the crescent openings to 1 7/32 ... and Starlings got in. Ordered and installed new doors. The following year, my BoVilla rig was covered with Martins peeking into the SREH but none entered so I opened a few round holes before I left for work. When I returned, a pair of Starlings was busy building a nest in each BoVilla with an open round hole and all the Martins were gone. I plugged the round holes. Starlings sturggled to enter the SREH but failed and eventually left but the BoVilla rack remained empty for the season.

I live in dairy country that's heavily infested with Euorpean Starlings. I trap and shoot year round to reduce their numbers to allow native birds to nest successfully but new pests move in constantly. Without SREH, I couldn't host Purple Martins. In my area, even a little oversize is too much. With your very active colony and perhaps a lower density of Starlings, maybe a bit oversize won't be a problem.

Have a great season,

Tree

[roblrich]

Hi Tree. I bet we have similar situations as far as S&S's. In central Kentucky, Starlings are abundant. I need to keep my Crescents no larger than 1 7/32 I'm sure. I will say that our starlings are large and fat, and I exterminate as best I can, but it seems there is no way to make a dent in them around here.

HOSP's are quite abundant here also, but with some dedication, they can be handled.