Managing English House Sparrows around Bluebirds - Page 3 - Wildlife Gardeners

fishlkmich · 04-19-2012, 07:04 AM

HOSP do not nest exclusively in cavities/boxes. If you can see eggs and verify that they are HOSP eggs, you can (and should) destroy the nest.

You are starting to see just how smart HOSP are. You need to fool them. See if you can find an old purple martin house somewhere and we can make a repeating HOSP trap.

Birding Bunch · 04-19-2012, 02:40 PM

We have a new martin house with 6 compartments. We bought that before realizing house sparrows would be a problem. We talked to friends before we put it up and learned a bit what HOSP can do. So the box is just collecting dust.

My husband got on a ladder and there were two nests, one non-HOSP, but there was one above it that definitely was the job of a HOSP. It was empty, so he pulled it out of the tree.

I am trying to figure out if we move the trap into the area around those trees, totally away from where it was, if that would draw them. Now that we have nesting material, would that alone be enough to draw the HOSP back to the trap? Or should some food still be put in?

I appreciate all your help.

fishlkmich · 04-20-2012, 06:43 AM

A purple martin house can make one of the best house sparrow traps that I know of. You will need to see if one of these fits it. They replace a standard 6" X6" door:

PMCA Purple Martin Market Place

You can get others, if it fits, or reproduce them if you are handy. If you have a different style of house, you can adapt the mechanism.

This type of trapping is similar to what I use with great success. I am happy to take one at a time from bluebird boxes. This method can catch several per set.

YES! Put it near the bushes, where you see them. Set it at, or below, head height. No food is necessary. You are taking advantage of their nesting instinct with this method.

Birding Bunch · 04-24-2012, 11:12 AM

I hope it is ok to throw this on here...

Just a little bit ago we saw in our yard for the first time a Bluebird!! We would see them closer to the creek, but never in the yard!! This was pretty exciting for us. I wish we had a box for it. Can it be related to the decrease in HOSP at all, or just timing of us finally seeing one here?

After not catching any for awhile, we got several males on Saturday. They wanted that nesting material! And found others in a nest. It took me a bit to get over that, but it was easier then before they were grown up.

fishlkmich · 04-25-2012, 06:54 AM

Congratulations! - Like weeds, when you remove them it leaves a place for what you want in your yard. Native birds will naturally gravitate to areas where there is less competition. If you decide to put boxes up, get some inbox traps. They are the only way to trap HOSP if they start nesting in a Bluebird box:

Universal Sparrow Trap

Birding Bunch · 07-20-2012, 08:23 PM

We came home to a surprise after a long day out of town... We forgot to block the entrance to the sparrow trap and in the fading light my husband saw something was in there. Oh was there ever. 21 HOSP. Two were adult males along with the mix of females and juveniles. To even things out, three more were trapped the next day making an even two dozen.

We had only trapped a handful in a couple months' time, so this was amazing. One of the children suggested we keep the trap open whenever we are gone for a day again. I told him that was a fluke and we do not want to risk trapping natives while we're away.

Maybe we can think of the Martin house next spring...

jack · 07-20-2012, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birding Bunch

We came home to a surprise after a long day out of town... We forgot to block the entrance to the sparrow trap and in the fading light my husband saw something was in there. Oh was there ever. 21 HOSP. Two were adult males along with the mix of females and juveniles. To even things out, three more were trapped the next day making an even two dozen.

We had only trapped a handful in a couple months' time, so this was amazing. One of the children suggested we keep the trap open whenever we are gone for a day again. I told him that was a fluke and we do not want to risk trapping natives while we're away.

Maybe we can think of the Martin house next spring...

Nice job! I caught 103 HOSPs last summer, but with my neighbor's insistence of building and installing multi-housing units for HOSPS, I gave up. As many as I would catch, there were always more. It became a killing game without a purpose, as I knew I was fighting a losing battle. Now I don't even put up bluebird or swallow diameter houses anymore. They're sitting in my cellar, retired from use...

GonativeAlex · 07-20-2012, 09:04 PM

How sad! Did you have a friendly or not so friendly talk with your neighbor about these birds, If you haven't tell him the fact they are not native and can do more harm them good, why they don't even look pretty.. Tell him/her they kill other birds!

scarecrowsdrm · 07-20-2012, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GonativeAlex

How sad! Did you have a friendly or not so friendly talk with your neighbor about these birds, If you haven't tell him the fact they are not native and can do more harm them good, why they don't even look pretty.. Tell him/her they kill other birds!

I am in the same pickle with a neighbor breeding HOSP. She loves birds with indiscriminate abandon, and her husband makes birdhouses all day long which rapidly fill with HOSP. I have tried to have the "conversation" several times but she simply doesn't understand how nasty these little brown birdsare. She likes their chirping. Ugh.
I have trapped and killed well over 200 of her HOSP, but it is very true that when there is a vacuum these birds readily make up for it. I really like my neighbors---and they like us, so I have let sleeping dogs lie and trap whenever I can, even though it has been something of an arms race.
Then this past winter---a shock to us all---my neighbor's house burned to the ground. Her bird houses were left intact, but with the ensuing disturbance of debris removal and now house construction the HOSP have fled the scene. I only saw one pair this summer, when usually the flocks of young birds are coming to my feeders. I am sure once the house is completed and all is calm again the birds will return...but in the meantime, a nice respite, though through unfortunate means!

scarecrowsdrm · 07-20-2012, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishlkmich

HOSP do not nest exclusively in cavities/boxes. If you can see eggs and verify that they are HOSP eggs, you can (and should) destroy the nest.

You are starting to see just how smart HOSP are. You need to fool them. See if you can find an old purple martin house somewhere and we can make a repeating HOSP trap.

This reminds me of an incident I had with a female HOSP several years ago that nested in one of my bluebird houses. I threw out the first two eggs and the trashy nest the first day. The second day, there was less trashy nest, two eggs. The third day there was even less nest and one egg. The fourth day there was a wisp of straw and one egg sitting on the floor of the nest box. These birds are persistent beyond belief! Happily for me, though, my place is a little wild for their taste and they only attempted to nest in my birdhouses twice.

04-19-2012, 07:04 AM	#21
fishlkmich Grub Join Date: Nov 2008	HOSP do not nest exclusively in cavities/boxes. If you can see eggs and verify that they are HOSP eggs, you can (and should) destroy the nest. You are starting to see just how smart HOSP are. You need to fool them. See if you can find an old purple martin house somewhere and we can make a repeating HOSP trap. __________________ www.michiganmartins.com

04-20-2012, 06:43 AM	#23
fishlkmich Grub Join Date: Nov 2008	A purple martin house can make one of the best house sparrow traps that I know of. You will need to see if one of these fits it. They replace a standard 6" X6" door: PMCA Purple Martin Market Place You can get others, if it fits, or reproduce them if you are handy. If you have a different style of house, you can adapt the mechanism. This type of trapping is similar to what I use with great success. I am happy to take one at a time from bluebird boxes. This method can catch several per set. YES! Put it near the bushes, where you see them. Set it at, or below, head height. No food is necessary. You are taking advantage of their nesting instinct with this method. __________________ www.michiganmartins.com

04-25-2012, 06:54 AM	#25
fishlkmich Grub Join Date: Nov 2008	Congratulations! - Like weeds, when you remove them it leaves a place for what you want in your yard. Native birds will naturally gravitate to areas where there is less competition. If you decide to put boxes up, get some inbox traps. They are the only way to trap HOSP if they start nesting in a Bluebird box: Universal Sparrow Trap __________________ www.michiganmartins.com

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04-19-2012, 02:40 PM	#22
Birding Bunch Grub Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Iowa, USA	We have a new martin house with 6 compartments. We bought that before realizing house sparrows would be a problem. We talked to friends before we put it up and learned a bit what HOSP can do. So the box is just collecting dust. My husband got on a ladder and there were two nests, one non-HOSP, but there was one above it that definitely was the job of a HOSP. It was empty, so he pulled it out of the tree. I am trying to figure out if we move the trap into the area around those trees, totally away from where it was, if that would draw them. Now that we have nesting material, would that alone be enough to draw the HOSP back to the trap? Or should some food still be put in? I appreciate all your help.

04-24-2012, 11:12 AM	#24
Birding Bunch Grub Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Iowa, USA	I hope it is ok to throw this on here... Just a little bit ago we saw in our yard for the first time a Bluebird!! We would see them closer to the creek, but never in the yard!! This was pretty exciting for us. I wish we had a box for it. Can it be related to the decrease in HOSP at all, or just timing of us finally seeing one here? After not catching any for awhile, we got several males on Saturday. They wanted that nesting material! And found others in a nest. It took me a bit to get over that, but it was easier then before they were grown up.

07-20-2012, 08:23 PM	#26
Birding Bunch Grub Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Iowa, USA	We came home to a surprise after a long day out of town... We forgot to block the entrance to the sparrow trap and in the fading light my husband saw something was in there. Oh was there ever. 21 HOSP. Two were adult males along with the mix of females and juveniles. To even things out, three more were trapped the next day making an even two dozen. We had only trapped a handful in a couple months' time, so this was amazing. One of the children suggested we keep the trap open whenever we are gone for a day again. I told him that was a fluke and we do not want to risk trapping natives while we're away. Maybe we can think of the Martin house next spring...

07-20-2012, 09:04 PM	#28
GonativeAlex Salamander Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Twin Cities, MN	How sad! Did you have a friendly or not so friendly talk with your neighbor about these birds, If you haven't tell him the fact they are not native and can do more harm them good, why they don't even look pretty.. Tell him/her they kill other birds!