Never Seen This Before

[Roymg]

I've had Martin colonies since 1979 ad I've never seen almost two dozen white Martin eggs on the ground. I've had a sparrow driving me crazy since February and I've not been able to kill him yet. I guess I'm a bad shot. I have knocked off one female but this male, no luck. Anyway I sit outside hours at a time to keep this sparrow away from the bird house and so far he's been unable to start a nest. He wont come around if I'm outside, even though I'm sometimes hiding from him. He knows I'm out to get him.

These eggs show up either on the ledges or ground when I'm not around to observe what's going on. Like today this afternoon I stepped out for an hour and when I got back there were five more eggs on the ground. It's hard to believe this sparrow is going through 12 apartments while the females are inside and breaking all of these eggs. I even set up a dummy as a scarecrow.I did see a Martin female eating parts of an egg shell that was on the ledge.

I've had sparrows and Martins nesting in the same house but they usually don't bother one another until the babies arrive, then I evict the sparrow family.

I wonder if not the Martin males are breaking these eggs because they still go inside the apartments even though the females are still sitting inside. There is not a whole lot of room in there. If I ever get this sparrow, and if he is the one breaking these eggs, I'm going to hang him on string from the gourd rods as an example to otherwise sparrows. Maybe any others will get the message.

I did put up another diversion Martin house to maybe get any other birds, like this sparrow, attention away from the main colony, but it looks like my Blue Bird pair has put a stop to that idea as they have their own babies to look after and reject any other birds around their little home.

Oh well!

[tonyg]

Could be an SY male doing this if you have them there..and it would be very wise NOT to let ANY sparrows nest with your martins!!! Your just asking for trouble..

[Roymg]

Could be an SY male doing this if you have them there..and it would be very wise NOT to let ANY sparrows nest with your martins!!! Your just asking for trouble..

Agree, no sparrow will be allowed to nest in the Martin house.

[DornCounty]

wonder if the cold spring.. spoiled some eggs and the mommas are booting them?

[Berndog]

Mmmmm.....good point dorn.

[Roymg]

wonder if the cold spring.. spoiled some eggs and the mommas are booting them?

You know, I had that thought cross my mind too. It was colder this early spring than I can ever remember.

I wonder how they can tell.

[Dennis D]

Why don't you just trap the sparrow if you can't shoot it?

[KathyF]

I think both Tony & Dorn are correct. And some of it may be from the HOSP, if he's getting frustrated from you chasing him around the site.

Other things you could try with the HOSP: setup a small decoy nestbox with a hole reducer to try to trap the HOSP nearby. Same as your idea of a decoy house, but you would only need a small box, big enough to hold your trap and make sure the hole is only 1 5/16" so your bluebirds can't enter.
Similar to this:

[Roymg]

I think both Tony & Dorn are correct. And some of it may be from the HOSP, if he's getting frustrated from you chasing him around the site.

Other things you could try with the HOSP: setup a small decoy nestbox with a hole reducer to try to trap the HOSP nearby. Same as your idea of a decoy house, but you would only need a small box, big enough to hold your trap and make sure the hole is only 1 5/16" so your bluebirds can't enter.
Similar to this:

Thanks for the idea of the trap house.

Right now the second house that I put back up, at a lower elevation, is working. The sparrow has now been concentrating on that house and seems like I got a reprieve for now. Anyway we will see. I'll still prevent any sparrows form nesting.

Thanks,