SREH for small cavitities

Peggy Riley · Tue May 09, 2006 1:48 pm

On a previous post I told how PM were interested in my trap house. I now have 1 pair with 2 eggs (to date) in this house.

Haven't seen a starling in months but the last couple of days a pair has appeared. I've seen them around the trap house. Starlings have never been interested in the small cavities.

I was going to place an order for SREH from the mfg but the site says "for use with enlarged cavities only. Should I not use the entrances and just hope for the best? It appears the ASY male lives in the cavity next door.

Peggy

Sigundo · Tue May 09, 2006 2:16 pm

I have SREH on all my entrances. My modified S&K 20 has 2 rooms in the center than cannot be enlarged (due to the pole being in there), it has SREH and are the first holes picked by the martins every year. I'm not sure why the manufacturer says "for enlarged cavities only". The martins are not any larger in big cavities than they are in smaller ones, so they use the same technique (lean down and wiggle) to enter/exit the SREH (and it REALLY doesn't matter from the outside.. all homes/gourds are the same size from the OUTSIDE).

Unless somebody else has some knowledge counter to that, I'd say put them on.. better they do a bit of wiggling than have those Starlings cause trouble.

Peggy Riley · Tue May 09, 2006 2:22 pm

That's my way of thinking too. If anybody has any other comments I like to hear them. Thanks Peggy

Emil Pampell-Tx · Tue May 09, 2006 2:56 pm

As a general rule, starlings do not like 6x6 cavaties, but that does not mean that they will not go in and destroy eggs and martins. The martins do need a bit of extra room to exit & enter a SREH, as they wiggle sideways sometimes when they go thru it, so that may be what that is about. I don't know what to recommend, because I have never used an SREH on 6x6 cavaties.

Mary Dawnsong · Tue May 09, 2006 3:03 pm

I have no experience with this either, but I remember reading that the problem with a single 6" X 6" compartment is the nest blocks the low SREH entry.

In a house converted to double compartments, the nest is built in the back and does not cause this problem

Peggy Riley · Tue May 09, 2006 3:03 pm

Thanks Emil, I think I'll go ahead and order some. Maybe this winter I can modify the house and keep it up just in case. I really wonder what attracted her to this small house. There are a few open gourds, guess she's never nested in gourd before. Peggy

Peggy Riley · Tue May 09, 2006 3:10 pm

Thanks Mary, I was wondering if you'd had this problem since I used your idea for the trap house!! It was a great idea and I paid more for my pole than for the house itself! Sparrows are really attracted to Spar-o-doors.
It's a easy way to get them.

She's used old mesquite beans to make her own SREH so I'll have to make an adjustment for her. Thanks.

Peggy

Mary Dawnsong · Tue May 09, 2006 3:23 pm

Peggy, new martins that join my colony are very attracted to the trap house - even though it is over by a tree. I replace all doors in the trap house with Spare-O-Doors, so no martins can enter any compartments.

However, I am pretty certain that if I left any martin-sized entries open in the trap house the martins would move right in. Glad you are having success with this trapping technique:
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... ght=#57681

~Patrick~ · Tue May 09, 2006 5:21 pm

I've used escluder entrances on 6x6 cavities for 5 years with no problems. I replaced the regular round holes when I had starlings kill a female in her cavity. I do plan to modify next year to the larger compartments, mostly for the comfort of the martins and in hopes of larger clutches, but I have had no problems with excluders on 6x6 compartments. They do just fine.

Patrick

Matt F. · Tue May 09, 2006 5:56 pm

Patrick,
Did you lay down any additional traction at the entrances? I'm thinking about trying the Excluders on my Trio next year.

Do you possibly have some photos? I'd love to see how they look on a Trio.

Sigundo · Tue May 09, 2006 6:55 pm

Mary Dawnsong wrote:In a house converted to double compartments, the nest is built in the back and does not cause this problem

You really need to meet MY martins.. 4 out of 5 still build their nests in the front compartment, though the young ones go into the back part when they are old enough to move around. In the double gourds, however, they DO build into the back.. but not ALL the way back, they put their nests on the upper part where the two gourds connect, just before the drop into the bottom of the bigger back part.

Still no luck on those sparrows.. tonight we ripped out their nests again and put a glue trap right at the entrance (but covered it with a 1 1/2" circular hole) hoping they'll go in. They noticed something was amiss, and the sun is about to go down and they are still not going into the gourd. We hope that the fear of darkness will force them in, or at least maybe HIM in...

~Patrick~ · Tue May 09, 2006 9:08 pm

Matt,

I'll try to get some pictures this week or weekend. I never have used extra traction on the porches, though I'm sure it would help them a little. Most scoot right through without the slightest problem but the odd bird occasionally balks and I'm sure extra traction would help. I've watched one of this year's females as she exits her compartment hook her beak around the porch rail to help pull herself out. Pretty smart bird!

Patrick

Peggy Riley · Wed May 10, 2006 7:57 am

Thanks for the info Patrick. This is just a fix for this year. Hopefully I will be able to add a new house next year and this trap house will be just that, a trap house. It was never planned to house martins but I just can't make myself turn them away.

I thought I had bought the low end Coates but is is actually the low end Nature House. I really suggest that anyone who needs to trap try this. The cost of the house was very reasonable and easy to assemble.