Sparrow traps

[CHenry]

Just bought my Super Gourd system and was looking at the gourd traps. Can someone tell me how you should go about using these?
Do you just set a trap in one ot two gourds? What if you keep catching martins or do you only set the trap when you see a sparrow nest under construction? What do you do with the sparrow when you catch it? Snap it head off i'm thinking?

[CHenry]

come on 60 views and no one has any isight for me?

[parkerdes]

I have used spare-o-door traps on my Natureline houses & simply bag the Hosp & let it suffocate. I haven't had sparrows in my gourds but have used the Troyer Tunnel gourd trap with a round hole on starlings. I have all SREHs on my gourds except when I see starlings investigating. I trapped several last year before the martins arrived & moved the trap to a pole under the trees near my S&S repeating trap to prevent martins from accidentally getting trapped once they arrived at my site. If you aren't home during the day to watch your traps, you could catch the wrong kind of bird. Never trap when you can't monitor them!!!
I have an escape hole in my S&S trap because I have Bewick's wrens, chickadees, & BBs that like to investigate my bird houses.
I am no expert, but that is what I do. For the starlings trapped in the S&S trap, I have a pellet gun & have shot the starlings in the cage so I don't have to handle them!
Again, I have been trapping now for 6 years before I got my first 2 pairs of martins this last season! I'm in a rural area & don't have a lot of either "ratbird"!!! I just know that if I want to grow my colony, I need to control nest competitors!!! Good Luck!!! & Happy Trapping!!!

[CHenry]

I haven't had sparrows in my gourds

So do sparrow not like the gourds? If thats the case that would be great!

[gsimpson]

I had a real problem with sparrows last year trying to nest in our gourds. We have Natureline gourds with SREH openings and one troyer horizontal with an SREH entrance. Most of the sparrows I took care of with my pellet gun. I use the door traps on our bluebird houses and they work very well. We also used a zip lock bag to suffocate them with. This year, we are adding a repeating sparrow trap and I have built a repeating starling trap to place in the yard nearer the trees.

My experience has been that once the sparrow picks a guord, that is the one he wants. You can tear out the nest and he'll build it right back. Once he picks his guord, place the trap on that guord. Hopefully, any martins at your site will leave that guord alone until you catch the sparrow.

[CHenry]

Ok, thanks. I'll get the trap!
I use a 22 long rifle with bird shot on some of the sparrows but you have to be pretty close with that which makes it difficult to do.
Think i'll get 2 traps and i can catch several in a few hours I imagine.

[jeanf]

We just trapped our first HOSP last weekend. We just sprayed in a little starter fluid as I read was humane here on this forum and he expired quickly. I felt horrible, but it's one less to worry about with the Martins. I'd had clothespins over my SREH's, but they got three of them off and were already taking over the house, so I knew we had to do it.

Peace,

[BumBee]

11FEB2010-traps
I had real problems with sparrows and starlings in the beginning 11 years ago. I did not how
To deal with them little buggers. Once I found out that sparrows and starling were free for the taking,
Did what humanly possible was there to do. I used my housing as traps, I placed sticky traps, mice traps
And even small projectiles and barbs. The trouble I had was, I had to be there with all of these kind of
Traps for I worried about trapping and killing protected species like our beloved purple martins. I got
away from all of that. Catch a sparrow or starling on the mice trap it is like a murder scene on TV
where blood is splattered all the walls and on the floor. Another thing I did like using my PM houses
as traps was I had to lower it.
When I saw this happened I decided to go for another way. I found the PMCA repeating baited trap
about 8-9 years ago. This method has been very successful for me. I also made a holding cage for my
live decoy sparrows. The trap is in corporate to this decoy cage. This works year round and I do not
worry as much catching protected species in it for it will not kill any of the catch in ten hours. I placed
my trap that I can see it on my way from the garage to the house. I also place fresh water for the catch.
This system can be overwhelming with catch during sparrows fledging their young. I have seen as many
as eight sparrows with yellow color around their beaks. The hard part is disposing of the catch. Letting
go of the protected species is not so bad.
I also built another repeating trap that mimics a martin house. This will only catch sparrows and
starlings during their breeding season. Unfortunately, it coincides with the martin breeding season.
I’ve had to lower this NB Trap twice for it keep attracting and catching PMs.

[parkerdes]

I haven't had any hosps in my gourds but they always seem to be attracted to the houses here & end up trapped in the spare-o-door traps! Thank goodness!!!
I have heard that a lot of hosps aren't as attracted to gourds that swing vs. stationary ones...but haven't experienced it myself. I have had a pair of Bewicks wrens pick one of my Bo gourds with tunnels last year so I simply took it off the gourd rack & put it on another pole for them...they are sweet & aren't like their cousins the House Wren that peck other bird's eggs...they successfully fledged their babies from that gourd. I moved it away from the martins, just in case! They had already laid their eggs & were committed!

[KathyF]

CHenry - your avatar is cute.

I've had enough experience with HOSP to tell you - gourd swings or not - makes no difference to a determined HOSP.

After trapping, you can use Ether (found in Starter fluid cans), if you don't want to handle them. But either tie the bag shut after spraying in the ether or pull their heads off, just to make sure - I didn't spray enough ether on one last year and he *almost* got away.

I had a section of screen off my screened in porch last year and one flew in. I grabbed a tennis racket and when hubby scared him off the other end of the porch, I whacked him hard enough that it killed him. Point is, it won't take much.

[CHenry]

Lots of good info, thanks and keep it commin!
I think I'll wait about buying traps untill I see how the sparrows do on me gourds.

[Michael Sanford ~ OK]

Hey CHenry, I'm just north of you a few miles. I have 60 gourds. I have found that the majority of HOSPs like houses rather than gourds. So I have an old beat up martin house full of trap doors that I have placed out of the way off in the corner of my yard near some trees where martins would never venture to nest. This thing decimates the HOSPs. I'll trap three or four a day.

All of that being said, I will always have that one bull sparrow that takes a liking to my gourds. I'll try and give him lead poisoning. If that doesn't work for whatever reason, sometimes I'll just let them claim a gourd. As soon as they build a nest and lay an egg, I'll pull the nest out and smash the egg in the gourd. I've done this once or twice and it really does work. The male and female will both leave or head over to my decoy trap house.

[CHenry]

Hey CHenry, I'm just north of you a few miles. I have 60 gourds. I have found that the majority of HOSPs like houses rather than gourds. So I have an old beat up martin house full of trap doors that I have placed out of the way off in the corner of my yard near some trees where martins would never venture to nest. This thing decimates the HOSPs. I'll trap three or four a day.

All of that being said, I will always have that one bull sparrow that takes a liking to my gourds. I'll try and give him lead poisoning. If that doesn't work for whatever reason, sometimes I'll just let them claim a gourd. As soon as they build a nest and lay an egg, I'll pull the nest out and smash the egg in the gourd. I've done this once or twice and it really does work. The male and female will both leave or head over to my decoy trap house.

Hmmm, good info here. I think i can rig up a false house with traps closer to the trees and lower to the ground.

[Guest]

I also find that the hosps go for housing way more than they do my gourds. Regardless, I think it's a good idea to reduce the opening size of any compartment that you place a trap into. This helps keep our friends (PMs, of course) from entering. Even with this precaution, it's essential to keep an eye on things, or to check the setup frequently in case one squeezes in and gets trapped.

Still have a ways to go up here before PMs arrive - sometimes I envy you guys...

-Steve

[Guest]

The problem I had was that I could not install the traps in my gourds becuase I had porches.

So, I have a dedicated super gourd with a trap installed. I keep this on hand, but not hanging outside. I had to make an exterior only porch out of some aluminum stock. The PMCA porches have an interior section that prevent the installation of the trap.

When I get a sparrow starting a nest, I remove the gourd they are moving into - and replace it with the gourd/trap. I move the sparrow nest into the trap gourd to make it look as much like the work they did.

Work about 50% of the time.

[CHenry]

The problem I had was that I could not install the traps in my gourds becuase I had porches.

So, I have a dedicated super gourd with a trap installed. I keep this on hand, but not hanging outside. I had to make an exterior only porch out of some aluminum stock. The PMCA porches have an interior section that prevent the installation of the trap.

When I get a sparrow starting a nest, I remove the gourd they are moving into - and replace it with the gourd/trap. I move the sparrow nest into the trap gourd to make it look as much like the work they did.

Work about 50% of the time.

I installed porches on all mine as well and forgot to leave one for the trap. Oh well, i will get one more gourd and hang it low where the martins won't even try to use it and install the trap there. I did this same thing yesturday with my old martin house and put a mouse trap inside a cavity and already got a sparrow! I'll slay them this year!