General starling questions

[aarosport]

My neighbor has a trio house that has been overtaken by starlings. It as been that way for 2 years. At the same time, I have had a successful Martin colony for the same period of time. This year I have noticed that more starlings are stopping by/ roosting on top of the house. What, (if any) problems am I looking at. They are not building nests or anything, will this activity scare off my martins? Should I shoot them? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Yes, you should shoot every one that you can. You have been very lucky that they have not come over and killed some of your martins. It only takes them a few minutes for the starlings to peck holes in the martin eggs, and if the martins put up a fight, they will kill both the male and the female martins. Their big long yellow beak is like a dagger, and the martins have no chance against the starlings.

Yes, the starlings could very easily scare away the martins, they will peck them or kill a few of the martins, and then the martins will abandon the site

Now maybe it will not be quite that bad, but it very easily could be. my last bit of advice, please kill every starling that you can kill, your martins will be better protected if you do. And start using SREH (starling resistant entry holes). And some other things, use a predator guard, and try to protect the martins from any kind of predators. The predators (starlings, sparrows, owls, hawks, mites, sqirrels, racoons, etc) need to be stopped.

[Waydog]

Starlings here too. They are very quick to figure out when they are threatened . Ive shot a couple and they will wait untill i leave in the mornings to show up. They will wait and watch untill you leave then they show up at your site. As soon as I open my door to try and get a shot, they flee. I just raised my porch entrys this afternoon to try and stop them from breaching my SREH openings. Theyve figured out how to wiggle in. I clean my houses out every day. Its going to be an ongoing battle! But yes shoot them!

[Jim 1990]

To keep your martins safe, shoot and trap every starling you can. I use the NBT and it is a starling magnet with out the trap I would have a lot of starling problems .
Jim

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Move your car or truck to an area where you can get a nice shot,put your sun visors down and partially block off a window or two with something, since starlings can't count you can go to the vehicle with another person then have that them go back to the house. If you don't make any quick movements it works.

[DornCounty]

I would consider building a nest box trap also. It will work while you are away. On my new home site I have a nest trap up and I have caught 5 starlings, yet have never even seen one in my yard. Those guys are sneaky.

Something like this: http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/a ... wpage4.htm

Just be sure to place it close to a building or under a tree in a place a martin would not go, so you don't catch them but catch the bad guys.

[John Miller]

I have a different perspective on this, gained from managing colonies in public parks. Starlings sitting on the house are not a direct threat to martins and won't scare them off at an established site, unless the starlings can enter your housing. Using some type of SREH will keep your martins safe. I say this because at public sites I manage the starlings are all over the area....to see one, all I have to do is look left or right, and the martins, protected by SREH, do just fine.

I don't know if you are using the traditional Trio housing with 6 x 6 units. Starlings mostly won't nest in it, but occasionally do. if you go to SREH, you'll want to modify the housing to deeper compartments.

John M

[John A Green Jr]

I only have to deal with HOSP's now after shooting 1 starling and 4 HOSP's(RIP). I leave them laying under the housing until something in the night carries them off. Not sure if that helps keep others away seeing their kin laying there or not and it doesn't bother my PM's at all. I also removed all porches or stoops from existing housing and have mostly gourds to limit starling activity. I hardly see any now and when I do their out of here.

[DornCounty]

I only have to deal with HOSP's now after shooting 1 starling and 4 HOSP's(RIP). I leave them laying under the housing until something in the night carries them off. Not sure if that helps keep others away seeing their kin laying there or not and it doesn't bother my PM's at all. I also removed all porches or stoops from existing housing and have mostly gourds to limit starling activity. I hardly see any now and when I do their out of here.

You may want to reconsider leaving bodies under their house. You are basically attracting predators to the house. I would feed them to your cat or toss them in the trash.

[CMF]

Bad idea John, you are baiting predators for Martins. A coon, snake or accipiter will put the two together and realize there is a buffet 16' up!

[John A Green Jr]

I appreciate the advice on the issue. I have thought of that and I do have predator guards on everything. I did the same thing last year which was my first year so I'm kinda new at this. I had no problems then but I also had only one pair which have returned this year. If my numbers increase a lot this year and I hope they do this may become an issue. So I will heed your warning and dispose of the flying trash properly. Thanks again for the help. I will need more in the future, trust me.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Last year when we had some jumpers due to the heat and drought, there were racoons, cats, & skunks in our yard (and probably some snakes). They were finding the jumpers that I did not see. Therefore, a dead bird will attract such predators.

[Louise Chambers]

I would not want to feed shot HOSP and starlings to anything -due to lead pellets that could cause poisoning, and due to fact they have various types of worms and other parasites you don't want to pass on to your pets.

We put dead HOSP out (not shot, trapped and euthanized) at our weekend site for gray fox, but well away from martin housing.

I agree you don't want to get any scavengers accustomed to feeding in your yard if you can help it.

[KathyF]

A new landlord contacted me last week asking about how to keep starlings out of his PM housing. I told him about SREH and the NBT. He asked about my setup and trapping. I told him that even with SREH, I still kill starlings with a vengeance.

Why? Because in my area, I have watched them evict red-bellied woodpeckers out of the dead trees after they have excavated a hole for nesting. I now have a tree on the edge of my property where they've evicted a pair and since I can't shoot from my neighbor's property and it's a hard site to control, I'm going to pull the dead tree down this weekend and put up nest boxes for them where I can control what goes on with it.

For me, it's not *just* about keeping them out of the martin housing, it's about helping the other native species too and thinking about what is happening outside my own site.

[DornCounty]

For me, it's not *just* about keeping them out of the martin housing, it's about helping the other native species too and thinking about what is happening outside my own site.

yep. Starling controll will allow all native birds to flourish.

I wish all towns and cities would start some sort of starling control program.

[KathyF]

...one other thing...if anyone thinks that SREH will end your problems, take a look at ChrisCreole's post about the starling killing his martin while the martin was trying to either exit the SREH or pull his head back in. May not be a common occurence, but it's just one more reason to keep an NBT going.

Starlings are vicious. The nice thing about their offspring though is that they are more easily caught and / or shot than their more experienced parents.

[CMF]

Kathy I witnessed a Starling battle with a Pileated and the Pileated lost! Talk about a disparity of size. The peaceful Pileated equipped with it's jackhammer was no match for the demonic Starling.

[NancyinEnidOK]

Aarosport, I have to echo what so many others have said, that starlings are a menace to Martins and other native birds, and need to be exterminated. This year I have had one breach a Conley-II SREH and there have been other reports of SREH breaches by starlings that are smaller than normal. I have also had them pull parts of a tunnel trap out of a gourd and carry them off. Another Forum member recently posted a video of a marksman shooting starlings and HOSP. The video shows a starling violently attacking another starling (who was already dead). They are vicious birds and will kill our native birds. Initially I had qualms about destroying starlings and HOSP, but no more. They've got to go.

[John Miller]

At the wide ranging public sites I manage, a few times starlings have breached, but I made adjustments or went to a better SREH and martins thrived. If folks think I'm not successful in relying on SREH alone and not trapping starlings in a nest box trap, they can dispute my nest check results I guess. John M

[John A Green Jr]

John,
Sounds like you have them figured out and are very successful. That is wonderful. But I have to ask, what about the neighbors of these public sites? Are they as successful? I'm with Nancy they have to go.