? for Owners of S&S Controller Repeating Nest-box Traps

[Guest]

We are seriously considering investing in the S&S Controller trap. I have read several praises for this trap on the forum in the past. Has anyone had difficulty with non-repeated trapping of house sparrows in this trap? It seems that once they suspect a trap they are wise enough to not check in. This is a somewhat large investment and your comments would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Sue
City by the Sea, TX

[Guest]

I usually catch 1 starling per day in the S&S Controller in early spring. If I catch 2 or 3 sparrows all season in the S&S Controller, I'm having a good year. If you have a starling problem, about every starling looking to start a nest finds it's way into the controller. As for sparrows, it just does not seem to be the most effective trap. A repeating bait trap seems to work much better for sparrows. That being said, the number of starlings I catch more than justifies my investment in the S&S Controller, but if you only have a sparrow problem...it may not be worth it.

[CUL Lou~Mich]

Sue. a couple of things. First off, if this is for English House Sparrows, put your money back in the piggy bank. I had an S&S, and kept trying to adjust it for EHS. Never did get it right. Mine was self built BTW. I then took it down and made an NB Compact which one can find in the Archives under predators or something like that. My NB trap is the same way. Great on European Starlings, not worth a crap for EHS. I believe it's because the trip isn't sensitive enough. I've watched TWO Blue BIrds get in, then it trips. I'm assuming if Two EHS went in, it would get them, but NOT with one. Therefore, if it's for EHS, I can NOT recommend either. If it's for EUST, you might see if hubby, or a friend could build the NB. LOTS cheaper than buying one ready made. Oh, EHS are very smart in my book. If they escape a trap, They won't be back around that one. You might get them in a different one though. CUL Lou

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I have a home built S&S Controller trap, and I have difficulty in adjusting it to catch sparrows. I have given up on it catching sparrows.
The best suggestion I have heard is to use a Trio trap, that fits into a Trio house, but some other houses can be modified, and that is a very good way to catch sparrows. The hole in the Trio trap is small so martins cannot get in.

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Sue,

The following reflects my experience at my Michigan site. A Texas landlord may have very different results...

I recently purchased an S&S Controller for controlling non-native European Starlings. I haven't installed it yet, but given my experience with the PMCA wooden nestbox trap http://shop.purplemartin.org/shopsite/p ... traps.html I expect the S&S Controller to catch many Starlings, but few HOSP at my site.

That's OK by me, because I don't need the S&S controller to trap HOSP. For three seasons I have achieved complete, effortless control over HOSP with an aluminum martin house converted to a dedicated HOSP trap.

My housing is all gourds and I see that yours are almost all gourds, Sue. At my site HOSP prefer the old Trio aluminum martin house to all other housing and virtually ignore the gourds -if- a martin house is available to investigate. Let me be clear about this... if there is no martin house available HOSP move right into the gourds, taking them away from martins!

I had major headaches with HOSP until I erected my HOSPice, a martin house converted into a dedicated House Sparrow trap. My HOSPice is a Trio Grandma martin house with 8 Spare-O-Doors installed. This is my third season using it and it eliminates about 98% of my HOSP problems effortlessly.

I erected it for the season on April 5, and since then it has caught 57 HOSP (37 males, 20 females). It draws cavity-seeking HOSP like a magnet and keeps them out of my martin gourds, Tree Swallow gourds, and Bluebird cedar houses. (I do not offer any condo-style housing for martins. I doubt the HOSPice would be as effective at a colony site that is not 100% gourds.)

Of course, the HOSPice must be closely monitored; that is its big disadvantage over a repeating nestbox trap. I am very fortunate to be a telecommuter and able to watch it all day. Many HOSP are trapped early in the morning on sunny days. So morning and weekend trapping can be very effective for those who must close up the trap during the workday.

This is from a recent post by Louise Chambers on the effectiveness of a HOSPice:

I sure like Mary Dawnsong's HOSPice - NJ landlords Allen Jackson & Tim Shaheen use a similar approach, and have a portable HOSPice to take around to sites they are mentoring. They found having several SD-1 Spare-0-doors in a row enhances the capture rate. The resources post near the top of the Forum has an article about their approach to HOSP control. Mary, our back yard here is small but I can already see several possible places for a HOSPice :-) A great advantage would be that there are no tree swallows, bluebirds, wrens, etc that might be trapped by accident, whereas the bait traps sometimes catch white winged doves, shrikes, and even an oriole or too.

I agree that the HOSPice is far superior to a single nestbox trap because of its ability to catch multiple HOSP in a short period of time. The HOSPice is actually more attractive to HOSP when it contains a trapped HOSP! My HOSPice usually catches pairs - the free mate, desperate to join the trapped mate, enters the compartment next door or behind and is also trapped. It sometimes catches multiple singles, too. Just yesterday I checked the house after being distracted for an hour and found 3 male HOSP trapped.

For more information on this trapping technique, see the PMCA Update article by New Jersey landlords and super-mentors Tim Shaheen and Allen Jackson "House Sparrow Control Made Easier":
http://purplemartin.org/update/HSControl.pdf

Good luck with the HOSP fight,
Mary

[Guest]

Wow....great info.....I was planning to have ALL gourds next year...this might well be the answer regarding trapping HOSP....Thanks Mary and all...your responses are being printed and placed in my master idea and task martin notebook.

Sue
City by the Sea, TX

[Guest]

If you are trying to trap sparrows specifically, you might want to check out a repeating sparrow trap . I have one on order - we'll see pretty soon how they work in my location. Good Luck!

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Elmer,

The trap you mentioned is a bait trap and when House Sparrows (HOSP) are seeking food it can work extremely well at some sites.

During nesting season, many of us have found that HOSP ignore bait traps because there is plenty of natural food around. What HOSP are seeking instead of food are nesting cavities. So during breeding season, nestbox traps are much more effective at many sites.

Some folks use bait traps effectively during nesting season by baiting them with nest material like feathers.

Many of us use both bait traps and nestbox traps to control HOSP, but not necessarily at the same time. If your bait trap doesn't catch HOSP in May, don't worry - it may catch dozens in October when the nestbox traps are empty.

Good luck getting the HOSP,
Mary

[klcretired]

Hi Sue ,
I have a S&S repeating trap that i bought from the pmca a few years ago, I have had good success on both ,it works great on both the sparrows and starling alike, what you do as per the instructions that come with it is, use 3 quarters as the weight to set the adjustment on the counter weight , useing 3 quarters to set the balance of the counter weight allows you to catch the sparrows nasties as well as the starling scum beaks, as you fiddle w/ the counter weight their is a set screw/Bolt that you can move forward/backward to set the sensitivity.I love the S&S trap it's the best investment that you'll ever make & it works for you all year long.
If you place the S&S by a tree you won't ever have to worry about accidently trapping martins by mistake, they won't ever go near it.

[gwarnerjr]

KLC, My NB trap is right up in the branches of a 25' tall Ash tree and when I arivved home the other day I saw another "victim" in the death cage. As I looked closer I saw it wasn't a scumbeak but a beautiful male martin! He was OK and I quickly let him out . This proves that checking traps often is a must and also proves that martins will enter a trap near a tree. I am sure that this one won't try it again. Glenn

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Glenn,

Your post illustrates just how different two different sites can be.

I had a PMCA wooden nestbox trap mounted on a sycamore tree for years and it never caught anything! I moved it to the top of an 8' post a few feet away and it became a dynamite Starling trapper.

Sometimes it seems there are few hard and fast rules on how Purple Martins, House Sparrows, or Starlings will behave.

My best, Mary

[Guest]

Thanks again all for the tips regarding traps. It sounds like switching between bait and nesting material is an effective choice. We have 3 universal sparrow traps and from the looks of your HOSPice Mary, I believe we can build a cover with holes that are smaller than the ones on our martin housing and place this contraption atop one of our telescoping poles at the end of the season.

We do not have trees anywhere near our colony...only a couple of palm trees about 70 feet away!

Great resources for ideas....again, all is appreciated!

Sue
City by the Sea, TX

[Mary Dawnsong]

Sounds like a good idea Sue.

For more ideas, see how Tony Frederickson integrates Spare-O-Doors with his Lone Star martin houses. Take a look at the first photo in this PMCA Update article. The bottom "row" of the house is all HOSP traps.
Click on:
http://purplemartin.org/update/13(2)Tony.pdf

[Guest]

Hi Sue,

The first day my husband put up the S&S controller we caught a starling. It stopped working recently though and I wondered if it had something to do with the squirrel I kept seeing on the platform. It's a good thing we took it down, it was full of leaves and refuse and I'm pretty sure the squirrel lived in it all winter. I wondered why the starlings were only looking in and not taking the plunge. We had to replace the trip lever too because the squirrel chewed it off to make more room for itself.

Live and learn.

[Bob Buskas]

You can increase your House Sparrow success with an S&S controller by adding a Sparrow Shutter to it. You can get all the info on my Sparrow Shutter at this link. http://www.wtc.ab.ca/northernskys/shutter.htm the shutter eliminates all the escapes that the S&S controller losses.

[Bob Buskas]

You can increase your House Sparrow success with an S&S controller by adding a Sparrow Shutter to it. You can get all the info on my Sparrow Shutter at this link. http://www.wtc.ab.ca/northernskys/shutter.htm the shutter eliminates all the escapes that the S&S controller losses.