How do you deal with a pair of House Finchs?
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Craig Dyer
- Posts: 500
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 2:24 pm
- Location: Nevada, TX
- Martin Colony History: Area is rural. Offer 28 compartments...metal housing (Lonestar Goliad) & Supergourds all w/crescent entrance holes. Purple martins are abundant here and eager for quality, well maintained, safe housing. Expect near 100% occupancy this season.
Have not seen any Martins yet, but the House Sparrows & Starlings are numerous. I've been busy trapping the Sparrows, and I sure hope the Martins prove to be as persistent as the Starlings are. On a daily basis I watch Starlings attempt to enter the SREHs (crescents) in the gourds & housing. None have made it past the SREHs yet, at least none that I have witnessed. But what do I do with a pair of House Finchs? They appear to be setting up shop in the Trio.
Craig Dyer
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Steve Kroenke
- Posts: 4342
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 6:49 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Logansport
Craig,
I like house finches a lot! They are not nearly as aggressive as house sparrows and martins with site tenacity/site fidelity can easily evict the finches from what I have observed. At unestablished sites, then house finches may be intimidating to inquisitive martins. Also, these finches do not destroy martin eggs/young and their nests do not fill up the cavity so that martins can still enter them. When I lived in Tallahassee, I let several pairs of house finches nest in my colony and that worked well the first year when not as many martins were in residence. Each species ignored the other. However, once more martins moved in in later years, the house finches were driven away. The martins were dominant in my colony.
You could close up the house if no martins are there yet and see if the finches will move elsewhere. Finches LOVE to nest in hanging baskets under the eaves of porches. These baskets can be the real thing or artificial ones. That is one possibility to consider and see if the finches would go there.
Here is a link to an old post of mine about a ferocious battle between a female martin and a pair of house finches. You may have already read it:
http://purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&
Steve
I like house finches a lot! They are not nearly as aggressive as house sparrows and martins with site tenacity/site fidelity can easily evict the finches from what I have observed. At unestablished sites, then house finches may be intimidating to inquisitive martins. Also, these finches do not destroy martin eggs/young and their nests do not fill up the cavity so that martins can still enter them. When I lived in Tallahassee, I let several pairs of house finches nest in my colony and that worked well the first year when not as many martins were in residence. Each species ignored the other. However, once more martins moved in in later years, the house finches were driven away. The martins were dominant in my colony.
You could close up the house if no martins are there yet and see if the finches will move elsewhere. Finches LOVE to nest in hanging baskets under the eaves of porches. These baskets can be the real thing or artificial ones. That is one possibility to consider and see if the finches would go there.
Here is a link to an old post of mine about a ferocious battle between a female martin and a pair of house finches. You may have already read it:
http://purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&
Steve
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Craig Dyer
- Posts: 500
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 2:24 pm
- Location: Nevada, TX
- Martin Colony History: Area is rural. Offer 28 compartments...metal housing (Lonestar Goliad) & Supergourds all w/crescent entrance holes. Purple martins are abundant here and eager for quality, well maintained, safe housing. Expect near 100% occupancy this season.
Hey Steve,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I knew someone on the Forum would have something to say about the House Finch. I was hoping to hear that they would not pose a problem for the Martins. It is entertaining to watch them flitter about. I think I'll let them stay. Hopefully last year's Martins will show up soon.
P.S. As Bren mentioned in an earlier post, I have also seen a female House Finch on our Hummingbird feeder. It never dawned on me that she was actually feeding. I thought she was just sitting there by coincidence.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I knew someone on the Forum would have something to say about the House Finch. I was hoping to hear that they would not pose a problem for the Martins. It is entertaining to watch them flitter about. I think I'll let them stay. Hopefully last year's Martins will show up soon.
P.S. As Bren mentioned in an earlier post, I have also seen a female House Finch on our Hummingbird feeder. It never dawned on me that she was actually feeding. I thought she was just sitting there by coincidence.
Craig Dyer
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CUL Lou~Mich
Craig. Personally, I would NOT allow the House Finch to set up house keeping in a PM house. I don't want ANYTHING to interfere with the PMs checking out the house. I would certainly close the house up, and force them to a different location. But then perhaps it's just because I've waited a long long long time for PMs. Around here, house finch are a dime for three dozen. PMs are a lot more valuable. CUL Lou
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Craig Dyer
- Posts: 500
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 2:24 pm
- Location: Nevada, TX
- Martin Colony History: Area is rural. Offer 28 compartments...metal housing (Lonestar Goliad) & Supergourds all w/crescent entrance holes. Purple martins are abundant here and eager for quality, well maintained, safe housing. Expect near 100% occupancy this season.
Hi CUL Lou,
You make an excellent point. I guess I'm just a little impatient & bored waiting on the Maretins.
You make an excellent point. I guess I'm just a little impatient & bored waiting on the Maretins.
Craig Dyer
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Guest
Steve, very nice article.
We also feed wild birds during the winter. Have 5 feeders up around the wrap around front porch. Not exaggerating when I say we have 100's of sunflower seed eating birds chirping to us all winter. House and Scarlet finches make up a pretty good portion of these. Have plenty of trees and shrubs in front and on side of house. Martins live in back yard.
Have never observed any finch/martin fights. I, though, do NOT allow any other breed of bird to use the gourds. If another breed is allowed to nest, then the trouble will begin.
We discourage the finches from nesting on ledges by placing obstacles. Really hard to keep them out of the hanging baskets tho. They can scare the heck out of you when walking by one of them, especially at nifht and a bird flys out about a foot from your head.
What I tried and it seems to be working with limited success is using small gourds near the baskets. I cut an oblong entrance hole about 3" high and 4" long. Mounted it under the overhanging roof ledge over each backet, making sure it hung over the ground and not the porch floor. Make sure the entrance hole faces toward the inside. I first tried hanging them, but, the finches seem to like them better when mounted solid so as not to swing in the wind.
Just a "for what's it worth"
We also feed wild birds during the winter. Have 5 feeders up around the wrap around front porch. Not exaggerating when I say we have 100's of sunflower seed eating birds chirping to us all winter. House and Scarlet finches make up a pretty good portion of these. Have plenty of trees and shrubs in front and on side of house. Martins live in back yard.
Have never observed any finch/martin fights. I, though, do NOT allow any other breed of bird to use the gourds. If another breed is allowed to nest, then the trouble will begin.
We discourage the finches from nesting on ledges by placing obstacles. Really hard to keep them out of the hanging baskets tho. They can scare the heck out of you when walking by one of them, especially at nifht and a bird flys out about a foot from your head.
What I tried and it seems to be working with limited success is using small gourds near the baskets. I cut an oblong entrance hole about 3" high and 4" long. Mounted it under the overhanging roof ledge over each backet, making sure it hung over the ground and not the porch floor. Make sure the entrance hole faces toward the inside. I first tried hanging them, but, the finches seem to like them better when mounted solid so as not to swing in the wind.
Just a "for what's it worth"