To me this one is hilarious. I've had more starling and sparrow problems this year than any other, probably because I left my house out all winter. It proved to big and heavy to get the pole out of the socket last fall and I just gave up and left it in the yard. Usually I put all my housing in the barn for the winter.
Note for newbies: I learned my lesson, next year I'll plug the holes untill the martins show up.
But here's the funny part. I was pretty excited about the two sparrows I had in my bait trap this morning. But my 10 year old daughter had other ideas and snuck out and released them!! She also tried to sabotage my other traps by putting a stick in the entrance to one and opening the "hatch" on another. She said, "Dad, they're just trying to find a place for their babies."
Of course she's right, and I can't really get mad at her. But I will keep after them WITH lethal control. Maybe I'll get me some night vision goggles and stalk them while she sleeps.....
My wife is on board with S&S destruction, but my kids...
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Guest
Or try and explain to her what they and their babies have and will do to our native birds. Dennis
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CurtWelling
- Posts: 185
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Versailles, KY
Or try and explain to her what they and their babies have and will do to our native birds. Dennis
Well I've done plenty of that. But she's more like a 13 year old already, Dad don't know nothin'.
Well I've done plenty of that. But she's more like a 13 year old already, Dad don't know nothin'.
Curt Welling
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Guest
If ya can't reason with them then it's time for them to realize that they live in a dictatorship till they're payin the bills. 
Ian
Ian
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CurtWelling
- Posts: 185
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Versailles, KY
Oh yeah, it's a dictatorship. What I had this morning was a commando raid by a rogue terrorist!!
Curt Welling
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Guest
Maybe a video of both a sparrow and a starling attack with all the gory destruction as it happens--captured with a nestcam inside a nest cavity would be a powerful teaching tool. Does anyone have such tape? Would the PMCA consider adding it to the archives?
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CurtWelling
- Posts: 185
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Versailles, KY
Love that idea, I have a nestcam, never took video on it and thank goodness never actually saw an attack but if there is such a video I'd like to see it.
Curt Welling
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Joe Zorn
Curt,
I'm editing this and changing my story.
Erect a second martin house, and give your daughter responsibility for it. Let her make all the decisions, using your advice and direction. But don't demand it be done your way. If she wants sparrows with her martins, it's been done before, successfully. She gets to keep her sparrows, you get your house back.
Raising Purple Martins are fun and educational. Raising kids is much more demanding and difficult and a great deal more rewarding. And the results are much more binding on you. You can't change the way you do it next year, if it didn't work this time. Use this opportunity as a teaching tool, and a bonding tool as well.
I bet your daughter will remember it the rest of her life, as will you.
Joe
I'm editing this and changing my story.
Erect a second martin house, and give your daughter responsibility for it. Let her make all the decisions, using your advice and direction. But don't demand it be done your way. If she wants sparrows with her martins, it's been done before, successfully. She gets to keep her sparrows, you get your house back.
Raising Purple Martins are fun and educational. Raising kids is much more demanding and difficult and a great deal more rewarding. And the results are much more binding on you. You can't change the way you do it next year, if it didn't work this time. Use this opportunity as a teaching tool, and a bonding tool as well.
I bet your daughter will remember it the rest of her life, as will you.
Joe
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CUL Lou~Mich
Curt. Perhaps you need to tell her who pays the bills, and who the adult is. Tell her it's your way, and that's all there is to it. No debates from the children. She's not the one who is supposed to be the boss. You are. You let her win this one, and you'll be on the loosing end the rest of her life. That means trouble down the road. CUL Lou
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oneidalaker
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 6:39 pm
- Location: New York/Cicero
Joe Zorn, you are a wise man. I vote for Joe's suggestion. The school of hard knocks can be the best teacher. You may lose a few eggs for a season but your daughter will learn why S&S control is done and as a future landlord will manage a colony properly. Hopefully someone will be able to provide that video so that your daughter won't want to risk any of her martins.
Bob
Bob