I am new to the forum, but I need to vent. I was checking my houses this morning as usual and heard a commotion in on of the compartments. A ASY female was sitting on the porch looking in while something was struggling to get out. After looking closer I noticed it was a european starling trying to get out of the compartment. By the way all of my housing has SREHs. I thought ah ha, trapped are you? I lowered the house and discovered why he could not get out. To my horror there was a dead ASY male inside the entrance partially blocking the exit. He was defending his nest and must have put up a good fight but didn't stand a chance against this devil. At least he was able to prevent the escape of this murderer. I removed the Martin and blocked the exit so the starling could not escape. The Martin was still barely alive but soon died while cupped in my hands.
After a few minutes I regained my composure and went after the trapped starling, he was dispatched with extreme prejudice at point blank range while still in the rear compartment.I share this for those who may be wavering about destroying S&S, don't give up. I have a sparrow trap which helps, but my new best friend is a Beeman R7 with a Swift 3x9x40 air rifle scope, it is deadly accurate. I highly recommend it for urban settings. Unfortunately we are overrun with S&S here in central Oklahoma, and I fear I am fighting a loosing battle. The life of one Martin is not worth all the S&S in the world.
Rahn