How much trouble do I have?
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Guest
Greetings everyone, I am just getting started, but really have enjoyed the site. Briefly, I am in Omaha, Nebraska, and just put up a Nature House 12, safety system, round holes, and am waiting to get any interest from martins coming through my area. My question is, I have noticed when home an occasional starling or sparrow landing on the house, and am trying to figure out how big of a problem this is. I know I would rather have no starlings, but unfortunately can't eliminate them completely from my area. I have repeatedly inspected the house, and there is no nesting material in any of the compartments. Is the occasional fly-by enough to scare off potential residents?
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Dave S (Texas)
- Posts: 151
- Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2004 11:42 am
- Location: Round Rock, Tx
Using SREs will be a big help with the starling problem. Those flying-rats are very agressive and if one decides the house belongs to it, the PMs will most likely not contest the ownership issue. Once the PMs occupy the house, they will 'deal' with house sparrows, usually with good effect but you trapping them is even better. Doing what you can to eliminate both the flyin'-rats and flyin'-mice will be a great help in getting your colony started. Good luck with your season!
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Bob Rogers
- Posts: 226
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2004 6:48 pm
- Location: Arnold, Missouri
You MUST start to eradicate the house sparrows and starlings that are now "just visiting" your site --- in no time you will see straw and trash hanging out from numerous cavities. These $#@^@*& are a VERY REAL threat to any colony, especially one like your's just starting up. Use any method you can to keep your house s&s free to have a chance at attracting PM's. S&S are extremely aggressive once they start to build, and have kept numerous PM colonies from getting started. Good Luck!
Bob R.
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Guest
Alright, that is what I was afraid of. So now the question becomes, what is the best approach to keeping them the heck away. I am in a neighborhood, so even a BB gun probably isn't a good idea. I have read a number of posts about various traps...anyone want to recommend their favorite?
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stan davison
- Posts: 715
- Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 7:48 pm
- Location: Tulsa Oklahoma
Get a Spare O Door trap. Fits on all trios. This year i've been trapping up to 10 a day. Hopefully soon the numbers will drop. good luck.
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Guest
From the online images, looks as though that will trap the sparrows, not any martins, but doesn't help with the starlings?
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Bob Flam
In places where Starlings are around alot, like Nebraska, you will eventually want to go to Sreh's. I would put up a mix now. This will help with the starling problem. Eventually switching to all sreh.
but sparrows...srehs wont stop them.
Here's the delema...starting a colony is a lil different than one thats established. If established the martins will come back even if sparrows are there. They'll tussle and fight n maybe the martins will push them away with nest tear outs on your part also. Or the sparrows will get tired of it and start breaking martin eggs till the martins start to leave.
But a new site where no martins have nested... Martins are kind of timid around new sites. If there is a sparrow or starling that has claimed the house...they will try n scare off the investigating martins. And probably will. Or any other bird for that matter.
Say you don't have any S&S interested or claiming it yet.... But they are around. If you do get martins coming and checking it out, the S&S will see this and then move in. At least one ...count on it.
In a place with lots of S&S around you have to keep a tough stance on them when trying to start a new colony. Once you have an established site...the martins help deal with sparrows. But thats not the case starting out.
If you can't shoot em, trap em. Keep them out! You can get a sparrow-o-door trap that might fit your house, or they also have a universal that should fit inside the compartments.
bob
but sparrows...srehs wont stop them.
Here's the delema...starting a colony is a lil different than one thats established. If established the martins will come back even if sparrows are there. They'll tussle and fight n maybe the martins will push them away with nest tear outs on your part also. Or the sparrows will get tired of it and start breaking martin eggs till the martins start to leave.
But a new site where no martins have nested... Martins are kind of timid around new sites. If there is a sparrow or starling that has claimed the house...they will try n scare off the investigating martins. And probably will. Or any other bird for that matter.
Say you don't have any S&S interested or claiming it yet.... But they are around. If you do get martins coming and checking it out, the S&S will see this and then move in. At least one ...count on it.
In a place with lots of S&S around you have to keep a tough stance on them when trying to start a new colony. Once you have an established site...the martins help deal with sparrows. But thats not the case starting out.
If you can't shoot em, trap em. Keep them out! You can get a sparrow-o-door trap that might fit your house, or they also have a universal that should fit inside the compartments.
bob
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Guss P O'Brien
SREH are a must if you can't or won't be able to stand guard over your colony during all daylight hours. Most of the colony's I see without them are not as sucessful as they could be.