Starling Help

Guest · Thu May 04, 2006 8:12 am

Hi,
I have 2 poles of gourd racks. A male starling just won't give up on 1 of the gourds and the martins are in the other gourds. I empty his nest out every day and come home from work to find it filled again. I have already killed 1 female, she was carrying eggs, but he went and found another.
Any suggestions would be helpful. I have had martins for about 10 years but never a starling problem. Thanks

Dan in Maryland

Guest · Thu May 04, 2006 10:36 am

If you aren't around all day it sounds like it might be time for SREH. It only takes seconds for that scum to kill a female on eggs-and they will-just for fun. IMO if you aren't on your deck from dawn to dusk with a pellet gun-no bathroom breaks-you need SREH if you have starlings around.

Mary Dawnsong · Thu May 04, 2006 10:46 am

Starling Resistant Entry Holes (SREH)

Read all about them in the archives:
http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/archives.html

Here's an indepth forum chain on why they work:
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2796

You can make them yourself, converting your existing housing.
Or, you may be able to buy replacement SREH doors from your martin house manufacturer.

Go to the PMCA shop and look in the Martin Housing and Gourd Housing sections to see examples of SREH:
http://purplemartin.org/shop/catalog.html

This is my starling story (second post):
http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/a ... Damage.htm

I've been all SREH for 6 seasons now and NO STARLINGS have entered!

Good luck, Mary

flyin-lowe · Thu May 04, 2006 10:50 am

SREH all the way, I didn't have a starling problem at first but now I am seeing a lot more of them. It is nice to only have to chase the sparrows and not the starlings. Dont worry, my martins got in them without any problems. I had to round entrances they started out using but the day they started nest building they moved to the SREH so I switched the round over and am totally SREH

klcretired · Thu May 04, 2006 10:59 am

Dan , we want to welcome you to the Forum, we are glad to have you and thank you for careing about the Martins, like everyone has said , you can convert your entrances, it's fast & easy and you can also get insert traps for the Super Gourd's, you said you had gourds but i don't think you said what kind??...anyway you can look around here on this site at the top of this page under pmca/shop...when the page opens up go to traps.
I wish you luck in getting rid of those Trash beaks and please keep us posted as to what is happening there at your colony...and if we can be of anymore help please call upon us as we would be glad to help.

loco for purple · Thu May 04, 2006 6:05 pm

Dan,

If you can't or don't want to go to sreh right now you can use an old wooden house to distract the starlings from your colony .Starlings love wooded houses and I use my house to draw them in real close for an easy shot.I have seen them land on my martin houses,but as soon as they see the wooden house they fly to it.There ,they usually lay claim to it and start nest building there,that is, until I get home..Good luck......

starling shooter · Thu May 04, 2006 8:24 pm

If you're going to be around to watch closely, you can put in a glue trap (for mice), once he goes in, quickly lower the rack and dispose of him.

SREH is the way to go ultimatley.

Scully · Thu May 04, 2006 9:01 pm

Hoo boy! I have glue trapped starlings, but only after the gourd was so filled with the starling's nesting material that entry by martins was unlikely, and even then I nearly had a cardiac when the inevitable SY martin males landed at the entrance and peered in.

So risky is this method that I would advise against it if ANY other alternative is available.

What _I_ would do with what I have on hand is replace that particular Supergourd with one of our trap-entrance Naturline gourds. The starling would likely go right in. From what I understand the Supergourd insert trap works much the same way.

Mike Scully

CUL Lou~Mich · Thu May 04, 2006 10:45 pm

Mike. The Supergourd Insert Trap works on the exact same principal as the SD-1. (Sparrow Door-1) which is for Trio houses, and trapping English House Sparrows. CUL Lou

Guest · Fri May 05, 2006 8:45 am

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll keep you posted. I have 8 natural gourds and 6 plastic. He loves the real gourd.

Dan