Starlings and Sparrows
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sonnya
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:16 pm
- Location: Temple, Texas
- Martin Colony History: New to it.
I have enlarged my rooms to 6x12, now....There are starling coming up to the house. I do have the smaller holes, the cresent shaped holes. Are starling and sparrows really going to be a problem?
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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
Yes, they will always be a problem. They will chase the martins away, destroy their eggs, even kill them just to get a cavity. You may be able to have a pair or two of martins, but they too will eventually leave. You should consider the starling resistant entry holes to limit the starling problem, but there is nothing to stop the sparrows except a trap or a pellet rifle. A good nestbox trap would be a start
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps
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Craig Dyer
- Posts: 500
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 2:24 pm
- Location: Nevada, TX
- Martin Colony History: Area is rural. Offer 28 compartments...metal housing (Lonestar Goliad) & Supergourds all w/crescent entrance holes. Purple martins are abundant here and eager for quality, well maintained, safe housing. Expect near 100% occupancy this season.
I second the previous replies. I have crescent entrance holes on all my nest cavities. Every spring the martin housing is swarmed by European starlings trying to access the openings. They give up after several weeks and move on. The house sparrows are a much bigger problem. I once witnessed a male house sparrow peck and remove eggs from a purple martin nest. He destroyed the entire clutch. A male house sparrow also killed all five bluebird nestlings in my bluebird box last season. It happened in a matter of minutes. House sparrows are bad news. Year-round trapping and shooting is my only hope of controlling them.
Craig Dyer
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4th Gen Martin Fan
- Posts: 1498
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:19 pm
- Location: TN/Collierville
- Martin Colony History: I have been exposed to purple martin sounds in utero when my mother went out to get my father away from his martin colony.
I played around the martin colony every summer and watched as my father maintained his colony. In the late 50's until the 70's he did not notice European Starlings in south Texas.
When old enough, I helped maintain his colony. My primary task was eliminating English House Sparrows with a 1956 Benjamin 317 .177 air rifle.
When I settled into my own home, I started my first colony with an original Trio Castle and Trio Grandpa. When I moved again, I did not put up any martin houses. Frustration with European Starlings in the Southeast US was overwhelming.
Found PMCA Forum and learned about modern enlarged compartments and SREHs.
Inherited my father's last martin house, a Trio Grandma, modified it to modern specifications and have had good results since then.
Sonny,
You are one step closer to a good starter martin house by expanding the compartments to 6 x 12.
You did not answer the question what kind of martin house you have but since your house has 16 original holes I am going to presume that you have a S&K 16 hole red and white barn. If I am wrong, then some of this information may not apply.
S&K houses have a plastic door that opens three 6 x 6 compartments. There are 4 doors (12 compartments) and then 4 holes in the attic space of the house.
The first and most important modification is to close off the 4 holes in the attic space. With the hot climate of Temple, TX, that attic space is a death trap for any martin nestlings. Any nestlings in that attic space will either die of dehydration or jump prematurely to escape the heat and die on the ground.
To answer your specific question, the starlings have a harder time breaching the crescent SREHs. However the opening to the crescents on a S&K house are too high from the porch and the door's plastic material can be warped to allow a small starling through. The only reason starlings are hanging around your house is they think they might be able to breach the entrances.
I hope that this PMCA Forum link has some information that might apply.
https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... nt#p266975
You are one step closer to a good starter martin house by expanding the compartments to 6 x 12.
You did not answer the question what kind of martin house you have but since your house has 16 original holes I am going to presume that you have a S&K 16 hole red and white barn. If I am wrong, then some of this information may not apply.
S&K houses have a plastic door that opens three 6 x 6 compartments. There are 4 doors (12 compartments) and then 4 holes in the attic space of the house.
The first and most important modification is to close off the 4 holes in the attic space. With the hot climate of Temple, TX, that attic space is a death trap for any martin nestlings. Any nestlings in that attic space will either die of dehydration or jump prematurely to escape the heat and die on the ground.
To answer your specific question, the starlings have a harder time breaching the crescent SREHs. However the opening to the crescents on a S&K house are too high from the porch and the door's plastic material can be warped to allow a small starling through. The only reason starlings are hanging around your house is they think they might be able to breach the entrances.
I hope that this PMCA Forum link has some information that might apply.
https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... nt#p266975
Mark.
Firm believer in HOSP/EUST Control, Enlarged Compartments, SREHs, Pole Predator Guards, Owl/Hawk Guards, Mite/Parasite Control, Housing Insulation, and Vents for Compartment Cooling.
PMCA Member.
Firm believer in HOSP/EUST Control, Enlarged Compartments, SREHs, Pole Predator Guards, Owl/Hawk Guards, Mite/Parasite Control, Housing Insulation, and Vents for Compartment Cooling.
PMCA Member.
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BobbyG
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:13 am
- Location: LA/Laplace
- Martin Colony History: 10 years
I have SREH holes and sometimes a starling can get in but I have payed attention and its always a small starling not that often I had one starling that was going in and out as he pleased then he came out of one of the holes on the side of my houses then he fell dead to the ground if you know what I mean he was very small in size might have been a 1st year starling. Sparrows or just a pain I built one of those repeater traps out of wood and hardware cloth and killed about 30 or 40 of them it worked pretty good.