porches & starlings

[donnak-Tx]

I have two questions.

I need some ideas. The porches I ordered, both 3 & 5 inches, are straight, while my gourds have a natural curvature. The instructions say to glue, however, there would only be a small area that fits snugly against the gourd to glue it. There are holes attached to screw them in, but since the porch doesn't match the curvature of my gourd- the screws would not be a snug fit either.

I also have a very persistent starling who jumps right in each gourd and promptly exits with a beak full of nesting material I provided for the martins. They have begun to gather leaves. I decided to change the entrances to starling resistant and that night the martins left and didn't go in to their nest at all. I've changed them back to the round entrance, and they are home tonight. I've ordered a trap, but any suggestions in the meantime? She has managed to build and lay eggs 3 times in my S&K barn before we changed the entrances on it. The martins seem to prefer my gourds and now the starling seems bent on staying!
Thanks in advance for your help. donnak in Tx

[starling shooter]

I've trapped them by using 3 pool Q's together. When they go in, plug the hole. Lower, take out the trash. Two person job.

The NB trap that PMCA sells works great. I painted mne white with a black "fake" hole on each side.

Eventually, SREH is the way to go.

[JoLita]

Hello Starling Shooter,

This sounds interesting! If you have the time, please tell me how to rig the 3 pool cues together to plug the hole. I have a terrible time with sparrows that are just too smart to get in my bait trap and this year I have starlings that are getting through the crescent holes with the porches. They're driving me CRAZY!!!

Thanks.
Jo Lita

[Eddie McKnight]

Don't know about the pool cues, but I make a flap over the entrance hole with one screw and a string that can pull it down when tugged from my back porch. As soon as they go in, I pull the string, then lower the house and get them or just reach up with a net, use a different string to open the hole and they fly right into my sons bass net. It's the best way to catch them when you have time to monitor them. Easy and quick.