I had about 6 bluebird houses, and sparrows had most of them. What I did was wait until they had laid the eggs and were sitting on them at night. Then I went and caught the female. I only did that about twice on the same pole, and the sparrows never came back. The only problem is that I didn't like to stick my hand into the nest at night in the dark, I didn't know what I would end up grabbing, kind of spooky!
I wish that I could do that with the martins, but the gourds are too high
Sparrow are building nest like crazy...HELP
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps
I am currently battling with the sparrows as well. I have one of blaine's traps but am having very poor luck with it. I have even had 2 escape from it. I also just installed the van ert universal trap on a nest box today, so hopefully i can catch some females!
Good luck with the sparrows they are relentless with the nest building so I agree, pulling nests simply does NOT work to deter them.
I'll be trying my luck shooting here soon
An easier way for me is to just cover to hole with your hand... then rock the nest box or bang on it. Then the female just flies right into my hand. No creepy grabbing in the dark! I do it just before dark, before they are actually asleep and are more likely to be startled by the shaking. I have caught 2 females on the nest this way.
Good luck with the sparrows they are relentless with the nest building so I agree, pulling nests simply does NOT work to deter them.
I'll be trying my luck shooting here soon
Emil Pampell-Tx wrote:I had about 6 bluebird houses, and sparrows had most of them. What I did was wait until they had laid the eggs and were sitting on them at night. Then I went and caught the female. I only did that about twice on the same pole, and the sparrows never came back. The only problem is that I didn't like to stick my hand into the nest at night in the dark, I didn't know what I would end up grabbing, kind of spooky!
I wish that I could do that with the martins, but the gourds are too high
An easier way for me is to just cover to hole with your hand... then rock the nest box or bang on it. Then the female just flies right into my hand. No creepy grabbing in the dark! I do it just before dark, before they are actually asleep and are more likely to be startled by the shaking. I have caught 2 females on the nest this way.
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
Sounds like shaking the pole may be a better way! thanks
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps
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Craig Haddox
- Posts: 444
- Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 5:13 pm
- Location: Missouri Washington
I couldn't get by without my trusty spare-o-doors for my Trio housing. They are deadly here. 25 sparrows since mid Feb. No second chances here.
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bwenger
- Posts: 1057
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:24 pm
- Location: Pennsylvania/Espyville/Pymatuning Reservoir Area
- Martin Colony History: Taking care of 11 active public colonies and trying to start two more in northwestern PA. Also attempting to restart another one in southwestern PA, in Collier Township's Hilltop Park. In 2017, not sure what happened but the ASY male returned and then a couple of weeks later he was gone. It could have been weather related. No other birds showed up. I had a starling nesting at the Public site that I had trouble getting rid of.
In 2018, we fledged 629 martins at all of the sites.
A larger clear plastic bag put over the house works well. Once the trap has been tripped, you just put it over the house, grab it below the box so there is no opening, then open the side of the house and the trapped bird will fly out into the bag.
You'll be able to tell fairly quickly whether it is a house sparrow or a bluebird, or wren of some sort, thus allowing you to take the appropriate action for the house sparrow, which varies between individuals.
I also have a larger bag that cob corn came in. This is out of a plastic material with 1/4 inch holes or so. This also allows a quick determination of the trapped bird.
Be very careful when a native bird is trapped, since you will want to release them back to the wild.
The bluebird house to me is much easier than raising and lowering a martin house all of the time.
Good luck with your martins.
Bill
You'll be able to tell fairly quickly whether it is a house sparrow or a bluebird, or wren of some sort, thus allowing you to take the appropriate action for the house sparrow, which varies between individuals.
I also have a larger bag that cob corn came in. This is out of a plastic material with 1/4 inch holes or so. This also allows a quick determination of the trapped bird.
Be very careful when a native bird is trapped, since you will want to release them back to the wild.
The bluebird house to me is much easier than raising and lowering a martin house all of the time.
Good luck with your martins.
Bill
Another thought on the issue...IMHO, even if you pull the nest and the martins run off a HOSP in a highly occupied house, why push the HOSP problem to someone else's martin housing area or even worse, to their bluebird housing?
You'd be hard-pressed to prove that happens.
I believe that house sparrow population are at saturation levels everywhere. Cornell Lab of Ornithology has it that fully 80% of house sparrows die before one year of age, and that more than 40% of older birds die every year after that.
They ballpark a figure of 150 million sparrows in North America, so conservatively, about 80 million of these must die each year. Here in heavily urbanized Bexar County we have at least as many sparrows as we have people, so I'd guesstimate at least one million house sparrows. Of these more than 500,000 sparrows must die each year from a variety of causes, just in this city.
Against those sorts of numbers, not killing a certain handful certainly seems unlikely to have much effect.
Mike Scully
Last edited by Scully on Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jr 2
- Posts: 749
- Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:20 pm
- Location: ohio,proctorville(just across ohio river from huntington,west virginia)
i have a spar-a-door trap for both of my trio houses;;have caught about 8 hs since i put the houses and traps up feb. 1;;hs seme too be getting sparce here as i haven't caught 1 in about 4 days;;i went on vacation for a week in feb. and didn't catch 1 hs while i was gone and i had both traps set;i was thinking you could put a trio spar-a-door on any wooden box-all you would need is a couple of nails too hinge it on;;martins showed up here on march the 14 and have seen a pair at my housing 3 out of the last 4 days of the morning but do not stay long;;don't think it is the asy that i had last year!!!!!jr2
PMCA member; s 2011 2 pair fledged 3; 2012 3 asy pair,4 sy pair,2013 8 asy pair,6 sy pair;2014 19 asy pair,2 sy pair
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John Miller
- Posts: 4863
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Mike
tail clipping - ha. I clip a few each year. In Forest Park, we just have a few sparrows and I removed one male last week...clipped his tail at the nub and off he flew. Mostly I enjoy explaning to anyone nearby who might be observing that without a tail, the male sparrow cannot hang on to copulate and so loses interest and doesn't return. People generally don't understand this for a moment, then they do and smile (grin).
I'm grateful you developed this technique to add to my sparrow control arsenal. re: any impact we might have on the population, I agree..probably little, but likely a lot in close proximity. So if I had a field at my own house and bb boxes out there, I'd try to eliminate all the sparrows at my own location.
Poor Hopeathome...we go on an on (grin). All she wanted was reassurance her martins would not abandon.
John M
tail clipping - ha. I clip a few each year. In Forest Park, we just have a few sparrows and I removed one male last week...clipped his tail at the nub and off he flew. Mostly I enjoy explaning to anyone nearby who might be observing that without a tail, the male sparrow cannot hang on to copulate and so loses interest and doesn't return. People generally don't understand this for a moment, then they do and smile (grin).
I'm grateful you developed this technique to add to my sparrow control arsenal. re: any impact we might have on the population, I agree..probably little, but likely a lot in close proximity. So if I had a field at my own house and bb boxes out there, I'd try to eliminate all the sparrows at my own location.
Poor Hopeathome...we go on an on (grin). All she wanted was reassurance her martins would not abandon.
John M
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KathyF
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 1:57 pm
- Location: Missouri/Licking
- Martin Colony History: Colony started - 2007 with one pair
As of 2018 - 84 cavities offered, max # of pairs hosted - 82.
Mike, maybe I wasn't clear - I'm talking about within the same breeding / nesting season - not the next year. If a HOSP is denied at one site, he will not just sit out the breeding season - *if you're lucky* and he leaves your site under his own power (ie, no tail/wing clipping), he'll go find another suitable site in which to breed - your neighbor's bluebird boxes, or his martin colony. Since I paint all my trapped birds' heads with white paint once they're trapped and I've had escapees, I've seen it happen. 
And he won't just leave your and your neighbor's areas - University of Nebraska has published a lot of studies they've done on the HOSP, one in which they found they would stay within 3-4 miles of their natal site for the rest of their lives (however short that may be).
(P.S. - I'm only referring to private, home sites - I'm not talking about what people have to do at public sites in order to appease the bird-loving public. We have that discussion ad nauseum
)
And he won't just leave your and your neighbor's areas - University of Nebraska has published a lot of studies they've done on the HOSP, one in which they found they would stay within 3-4 miles of their natal site for the rest of their lives (however short that may be).
(P.S. - I'm only referring to private, home sites - I'm not talking about what people have to do at public sites in order to appease the bird-loving public. We have that discussion ad nauseum
)"Sometimes", said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."
2023 - 82 pair
2022 - 80 pair
2021 - 75 pair
2020 - 78 pair
2019 - 80 pair
http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com
2023 - 82 pair
2022 - 80 pair
2021 - 75 pair
2020 - 78 pair
2019 - 80 pair
http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com
Kathy,
I'm well aware of the sedentary nature of the house sparrow, one of the puzzles being how did it spread across the US so quick.
But here's another puzzle... we have at least forty nesting pairs of sparrows on the campus buildings each year and I leave the gourds open all year, yet if I have even four or five pairs of sparrows in the housing even before the martins arrive thats alot, out of fifty gourds on four separate racks.
Once those pairs are trapped out, the traps sit mostly empty the whole rest of the season. I am having the same experience at other sites. There is much we dont know about sparrow behavior in this regard.
I guess what I really object to is folks posting about controlling S&S like it was a moral crusade, and condemning others accordingly, even to the point of running folks off who disagree.
What our goal is here is fledging young martins. I have done that as well as anyone I expect and ain't killed anything in at least six or seven years now. Along those lines tail clipping is a WHOLE lot different than wing clipping, the mobility of a tail clipped sparrow aint affected at all so's a human eye can see. Prob'ly interferes with their ability to dodge predators tho, and does make them unattractive to other sparrows.
I did kill fourteen mourning doves last fall, mine joining the three million or so legally shot in Texas each year, yet every year there are just as many mourning doves.
Aint got nothing against killing sparrows, and indeed if you kill a bunch you can achieve a temporary local depression in numbers. Aint exactly like a bucket out of the ocean, more like a bucket out of an ocean of molasses.
Regards,
Mike Scully
I'm well aware of the sedentary nature of the house sparrow, one of the puzzles being how did it spread across the US so quick.
But here's another puzzle... we have at least forty nesting pairs of sparrows on the campus buildings each year and I leave the gourds open all year, yet if I have even four or five pairs of sparrows in the housing even before the martins arrive thats alot, out of fifty gourds on four separate racks.
Once those pairs are trapped out, the traps sit mostly empty the whole rest of the season. I am having the same experience at other sites. There is much we dont know about sparrow behavior in this regard.
I guess what I really object to is folks posting about controlling S&S like it was a moral crusade, and condemning others accordingly, even to the point of running folks off who disagree.
What our goal is here is fledging young martins. I have done that as well as anyone I expect and ain't killed anything in at least six or seven years now. Along those lines tail clipping is a WHOLE lot different than wing clipping, the mobility of a tail clipped sparrow aint affected at all so's a human eye can see. Prob'ly interferes with their ability to dodge predators tho, and does make them unattractive to other sparrows.
I did kill fourteen mourning doves last fall, mine joining the three million or so legally shot in Texas each year, yet every year there are just as many mourning doves.
Aint got nothing against killing sparrows, and indeed if you kill a bunch you can achieve a temporary local depression in numbers. Aint exactly like a bucket out of the ocean, more like a bucket out of an ocean of molasses.
Regards,
Mike Scully