Starling control question

[John Miller]

A starling is making me nuts -- or nuttier.

Starling control at public sites is limited to traps and SREH, and I have had good luck with the latter, which sized and placed correctly, despite having starlings all around, has kept them out for years.

A starling did learn to enter one of my houses this year, perhaps because old exterior shims to raise the floor levels had deteriorated -- so I shimmed up and I don't "think" the starling is entering, but it still sits on the house flapping all day with martins occasionally dive bombing it.

Now we can't shoot here, least of all toward the medical center across the road - ha.

If I hang a round hole super gourd below the house with a trap door, do you all think the starling will enter? Or is the starling so fixated on the house, it's a waste of time and I'll just catch a martin -- I can check the trap at least once a day.

John M

[Louise Chambers]

Maybe hang the gourd there without a trap in it - see if the starling will try to nest in it and only then add the trap. Tough situation, I know - but you'll get him eventually. What about switching to one door with round hole, and trap in that room?

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

John, I had one that had a nest, and I could not get a shot at it. I started to tear out the nest and throw the eggs away. Instead, I lowered the gourd rack and used a tall stepladder to close the hole at night. The next day I removed the gourd, got rid of the starling, nest, and eggs.

Fortunately, starlings and sparrows usually use the lowest cavity, so this one was easy to reach. I just closed the hole by using a heavy piece of metal to close the hole, or you can use a heavy flat rock to lay on the porch and close the hole at night. This procedure does not bother the martins if you lower the rack before the martins come in at night.

[John Miller]

Thanks..good ideas. A story. One year I pulled a nest with half-feathered starling babies out of my parents' Trio in Kentucky and temporarily sat the babies at the base of a large bush. They climbed into the middle of the multi-stemmed bush and the starling parents began to feed them. whew. I was then leaving for St. Louis and I just left them, figuring it would keep the parent starlings busy.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

John,
I am sure that all of you have more experience than me.
But if that starling is strutting his stuff on your house, then I think that he can breach the entrances.
I know you are an expert about entrances so no need to comment about that.
Please get rid of him so he cannot procreate. We don't need the likes of him around.
If you monitor that trap daily, then I would go for the gourd trap.
I guess I like a challenge too much.
Mark.

[Kent Justus]

John,

If you are really concerned about the starling I would recommend coming at night and quickly plugging the hole. If I have persistent starlings I use a long pole with something at the end to wrap a sock around and then just from the front plug it up without making any noise and leaving it there for the night. In the morning I lower the unit and capture the starling. - Kent

[Lewis]

John, Before I made my modifications to the srehs I kept a round hole Troyer gourd with the trap.If the sreh is restrictive they will use the round hole.
I would raise the porch flush and put a PMCA wing guard on the outside. The starling will not be able to enter and will go in the trap gourd. I would wait until he is using the gourd before I set the trap. Perching on top of the house and flapping his wings indicates it is a male trying to attract a female.

Good luck,

Lewis

[John Miller]

Thanks again for your ideas. I'm going to do some watchful waiting for a while. Last evening I did not see the starling, but he came a few times this morning and briefly sat on the house but did not enter. The martins below on the porches didn't seem upset. Wish I could do more, but will keep watching.

Sometimes I suspect that a male that's too big to enter may be able to attract a female who can, and she may not need him to actually enter the nesting unit -- not sure. I'll keep watching.

John

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

John,
I am currently dealing with the exact same situation at a mentee's S&K house.
In this case, the male starling has already attracted a smaller female. She is the one who is entering the crescent SREH (measured just a little over 1 3/16" and definitely under 1 5/32" by an aluminum sloped measuring tool I learned to make from you and which is confirmed by digital caliper) with raised porch 1/8" below bottom of crescent.
The raised porch does have 3M outdoor traction tape on it which I am going to remove today. Lewis modification to Conley II SREH proved me that a smooth surface makes it harder for the starlings to push through. I had to learn the hard way that a smooth porch surface is not a problem for the martins but sure helps the starlings.

This whole starling situation happened so fast that it shocked me.
I should have listened to the martins because they were dive bombing the male starling before I ever saw the small female sneaking in and out with nest material early one morning. He had already stopped his wing flapping/calling by the time the martins were dive bombing him so I realize in retrospect that he had a mate already.
In this neighborhood an acute dose of .177 intoxication is out of the question.
Mark.

[James Rieman]

I agree about the traction Mark, a big no-no. It really helps the starlings get in.

[Lewis]

Mark,

Preaching to the choir, use the PMCA wing guards. Always have a few on hand.

Lewis

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

Yesterday I pulled off the 3M Outdoor Tread traction tape from the porch elevators of my mentee's S&K house. The small female starling was actively rebuilding her nest when I drove up to pull the tape.
Well today I did not see the starling pair at the S&K house but when I went to my office about 3 miles away there was a starling pair snooping around my updated Trio Grandma. I really do not believe that it is the same pair but it reminded me to pull the traction tape on the porch elevators of that house.
Initially the traction tape made me feel better about martins entering a flush porch but I am over that idea for my situation.
Traction tape may be okay for other areas but I no longer feel comfortable with it in my area.

By the way, the 3M traction tape sticks very well. Any residual adhesive can be removed with mineral spirits on a soft cotton cloth and elbow grease.
Mark.

[John Miller]

Maybe....got starling shimmed out. I spent about 20 min at the site this morning and this evening and did not see it, and martins seemed gloriously happy. I had used some trim board called sanitary cove base about 8 or 9 years ago to bring the outside porch of this house, a Trendsetter, higher, and at time had etched lines in it for traction. It deteriorated. So I cut some flat aluminum from a piece of house siding -- just little 3 x 3 inch squares cut with tin snips -- and glued on top of the old base to bring it nearly flush. Martins are entering with a one or two second shimmy.

Also spotted a bluebird today in the park -- middle of St. Louis -- pretty cool. Oh, and a sub adult martin.

And Sharon, we'll work on that sparrow at Cahokia Mounds. Thanks.

John M

[MamaBruff]

Thanks for the heads up re traction tape. I have some on my cove boards too. Fortunately the starlings are FAT here in SW MO for the time being, so not a problem yet.

And congrats on the BB and the SY martin too!