A sparrow state of mind!?

[James A Lenz]

Hello all you Purple fanatics! I wanted to ask for your help dealing with my sparrow anxiety. This is the feeling that occurs whenever I see a sparrow in my yard. When this happens I immediately have visions of sparrows entering my Martin houses while they are away and pinning all the Martins eggs. I feel like if I have any sparrows around at all that I am doomed to losing my beautiful birds to egg loss or a sparrow murder spree. I know this line of thinking must be irrational because I have a neighbor that has 60 or so gourds covered in sparrows and has had almost full capacity of purple Martins sense the 1980s.my neighbor lives less than 300 yards from my front door and his sky is full of Martins around sunset every night. He says he doesn’t believe in using a 410 shotgun because he tried that once and as he says he ran his Martins off for a year or two. When he sees the sparrows on his non lowering racks he just says that sparrow needs shooting doesn’t he? He then says I’ll have to get my B.B. gun after him and laughs. He is care free and is covered with sparrows and I have one pair of Martins so far and one pair of pesky sparrows and I’m getting a stomach ulcer trying to figure a way to kill the sparrows. Can anyone help me understand sparrow behavior better or in a different light so I won’t freak out every time I see even one sparrow? I just want some peace of mind. THANKYOU in advance for your help. PTSD in Ala!!!! Lol

[Craig Dyer]

I have been a martin landlord for many years. I share your house sparrow anxiety. I immediately go into action when I spot them on or near my martin housing. I break out my scope mounted Beeman air-rifle. If I can't get a clean shot I start setting traps. I don't relent until the SOB is history. I have lost bluebird nestlings and countless purple martin eggs and young to the house sparrow. You're not alone in your sparrow paranoia.

[-=DKC=-]

If I lived in the country where I could shoot a pellet gun freely I would have zero House Sparrows. However I live in the city where my safe shots are very limited and where the neighborhood has hundreds upon hundreds of them. And people around here put feeders up for them and occasionally tell me how much they enjoy them.

I try to kill the ones that claim gourds but I don't see having a HS free yard as a realistic option for me.

My HS anxiety doesn't go away though.

[ToyinPA]

Same here...live in town & using any gun is prohibited. We do use a Red Rider BB Gun. It's not possible to have a total HS free yard. The more martins you have the less the HS will try to enter housing. The martins will often chase them off.

You can try trapping & then disposing of them in a human manner. The PMCA sells traps. Place wild bird seed, cracked corn, white feathers, cotton balls, popcorn, etc., in the trap.

Best wishes,
Toy in PA

[James A Lenz]

Same here...live in town & using any gun is prohibited. We do use a Red Rider BB Gun. It's not possible to have a total HS free yard. The more martins you have the less the HS will try to enter housing. The martins will often chase them off.

You can try trapping & then disposing of them in a human manner. The PMCA sells traps. Place wild bird seed, cracked corn, white feathers, cotton balls, popcorn, etc., in the trap.

Best wishes,
Toy in PA

THANKYOU guys I appreciate your moral support I have traps set and try to get a shot on them when I can but they are very Wiley and hard to get. I have a new a breakbarrel pellet gun I’m trying to zero in but it’s not working as well as I hoped it would. I’m afraid to use my 410 afraid the noise will scare off the Martins.

[Lizzie]

Well.....if it helps any.....
when I didn't know anything at all about purple martins besides that you put up a house, and they come a raise babies, I had an old dilapidated martin house up. The first breeding pair had been there, hatched and raised their babies, and was fledging before I was even aware of their presence!
They shared that old house WITH sparrows. There were sparrows AND a martin pair in the same martin house in the summer heat, and the martins did just fine. Raised four healthy looking babies and then went on to a roost somewhere.

Now that I know better, I shoot starlings and sparrows every time I see them. I know that it is not guaranteed failure or catastrophe if a sparrow is present, so although I control them, I don't get freaked out and worried about them.
Yeah, the worst can happen, but it doesn't always.......

[marcus]

I use my 12 gauge shotgun on any s&s that hang around my yard. The martins take off when I shoot but are usually back to normal behavior within 3 min. My martins certainly do not mind me shooting S&S.

[Archer]

If I couldn't shoot, I would be full time with the Uncle Blains sparrow trap. A friend on mine lives in a town so he doesn't shoot. He caught over 400 sparrows in one Winter. You can make a major difference in sparrow population, where ever you live. Once you have caught the first one, keep him alive in the trap, he is a major asset in catching the rest of the sparrows, feed and water and cover for night or bring indoors to protect from cold. Put back out in the morning and let his calling and thrashing bring the others to the trap.

[mjfog]

Archer - You're a devious but clever, sparrow decimator. Keep up the good work.

[James A Lenz]

Archer - You're a devious but clever, sparrow decimator. Keep up the good work.

Thanks everyone I know the truth is somewhere between freaking out and completely carefree. I will be building the big Troyer trap for next year and hopefully that will reduce my anxiety level. When I visited Jerrel Johnson at his largest colony in the U.S. in Rainsville, Al. I asked him what he used and he showed me his large Troyers latter type trap so I ordered the plans from Troyers. Expensive but worth it.