Sparrow Problems

[Guest]

I have a 6 room Coates martin house with SREH. Four of the rooms are occupied with Nesting pairs. Three of those rooms already have 3 week old babies in them. The fourth room has 3 eggs ready to hatch any day. Now comes the sparrow problem. I have one pair of sparrows that made a nest in one of the empty rooms. I then removed this nest with egg and covered the entrance. These sparrows then moved to the other empty room and built their nest there. I removed this nest and closed this room. Now all of the remaining rooms had martins in them. Each room is divided in half with an entry area and a nesting area. Now the sparrows have entered one of the martin rooms and started building their nest in the entry area...leaving the baby martins alone. This morning I removed this partial sparrow nest from the martin entry room and opened one of the empty rooms. I fear that these sparrows will harm the martins.

Here is the interesting thing. The martins don't seem to care about the sparrows. They didn't care when the sparrows had their own room, and they didn't care when the sparrows moved in with them. It seems the sparrows bother me more than the martins.

What should I do? Leave everything alone? Get rid of the sparrows? Open all rooms? Close the empty rooms? I'm hoping someone can help me with my problem. I surely don't want to lose any martins to the sparrows. Will the sparrows harm the martins eventually?

Any help is appreciated.

Glen Brosch

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Closing the rooms will cause the sparrows to move into the martin housing, maybe killing the martins. Open all the rooms and get rid of the sparrows by trapping or shooting. The martins don't want them, but they cannot run them away.

I trap and shoot sparrows all year long, not only to protect the martins but to protect the other native birds like the bluebirds, chickadees, woodpeckers, etc. The sparrows really do a lot of harm to all of our native American birds. Get rid of the trash sparrows in any way that you can.

[Craig Dyer]

Emil said it all. I am a new landlord with four nesting pair this year. I shoot & trap sparrows & starlings every week. I've read too many horror stories from experienced landlords to even consider allowing either of these non-indigenous birds to hang around or nest in the martin housing.

[Guest]

Every established colony landlord can tell you of their tale of woe in regards to HOSP's. They will not live compatibly with other martins. Sooner or later you will kick yourself for not doing everything you could to have eliminated them. In years past they have destroyed our nests, eggs, young and then killed the female as it had the martin trapped inside the housing unit. It's just their nature! I have 2 SD1 traps I use in the TG12 but for my biggest defense I bought a powerful pellet gun with a nice scope. The scope will keep you from "ventilating" your housing. Hopefully you can safely shoot without endangering others or their property. As your colony expands I have witnessed that when the martins have broods in their nests that they are more protective and collectively will chase off a sparrow if it comes sneaking around. We also have Coates Watersedge housing (2 - 12 unit cells sharing a common pole w/gourds under the corners) and I share your problem with not being able to trap out of this type of housing. Those utility next box traps are not effective while using a SREH. Trapping and shooting are your solutions. Good luck!

[Guest]

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

Has anyone ever used the repeating bait type of sparrow trap: can anyone comment about their experiences with a repeating bait trap?

Glen

[edited by forum admin]

[Peggy Riley]

Glen, I've not used that particular type of trap. But, you can't have too many traps!

[Guest]

I have used the repeating bait trap trap for years with great success. I have caught as many as 3 or 4 hundred sparrows in a season. (I have decimated the sparrow population around me and am no longer catching many) After catching several it will not be necessary to bait it. The sparrows you have in it will attract additional ones. Keep thinning out the population in the trap. Keep about three in it at all times to attract more. Needless to say you must keep food and fresh water in there at all times or the sparrows will die on you.

I found that the RBT I purchased from PMCA had a flaw that needs to be corrected. (Maybe the problem has been corrected in the new traps.) The opening in the "lever compartment" for balancing the lever needs to be closed to keep any sparrows that find their way out of the main holding area from escaping. I made a pan shaped 1/2 X 1 mesh lid that I hinged and used a small piece of wire to keep it closed. I could then open it to adjust the lever when necessary.

Put this trap in the vicinity of the PM pole and you will catch sparrows.
Bob Parham
Murphy, TX

[~Patrick~]

With experience you'll find some traps work for some individual house sparrows and some work for others. I use a complete arsenal to rid myself of these alien pests, including nestbox traps, bait traps, mouse traps, glue traps, and shooting. Because of neighbors being so close, I can only shoot in specific situations, but each sparrow down is a notch on my gun. You'll find what you need, but find something. They will eventually kill.

Patrick

[Guss P O'Brien]

Even though I experiment with non-lethal techniques, I would say if the sparrows are entering marting nesting compartments, they have to go- trap and destroy or shoot. I've seen no evidence of the few sparrow I have sitting on rotten eggs messing with the martins. If I did see evidence, I would take care of them.

[Bob Buskas]

Patrick, you are so right. I also keep a complete arsenal of traps for House Sparrows. Just removing Sparrow nests does not work. When ever you remove a Sparrow nest from a compartment you should place an insert compartment trap in the compartment with part of the nest and eggs if there are any. It works every time for me. You can also place a bait trap on the ground below the Martin house and put some of the nest material you removed in it, they will go into the bait trap to rebuild their nest and you got them!

[Guest]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I have ordered a repeating sparrow trap and it should be here by Saturday. I'll let you know how this goes. Bob, I think it is a good idea to take some of that sparrow nest and place it in the trap. This is the first thing I will try.

I also wanted to post a few pics of my baby martins. They are all doing well and are always hungry. Hopefully all will survive if papa landlord can get rid of the sparrows.

Glen