Question about Sparrow nests mid-Season

[bbbdco]

I've had P. Martins for 20 years, but am now taking more of an interest in them now that I'm retired. I currently have 24 gourds (Troyer and S&K)....All with crescent holes and porches. Of the 24 gourds, 10 have P Martins nests containing 43 eggs as of today. About 6 gourds belong to sparrows and are totally stuffed with their nests. The remaining 8 gourds are either empty, or have only partial Martin nests in them. I check them every 4 days or so. I'm expecting babies beginning about June 28 or so. My main question: What to do with the gourds with sparrow nests. Should I keep ripping the nests out? Or should I actually close the holes on those gourds for the season. The gourds with partial Martin nests I'll leave alone. I'm not sure what the practice is regarding sparrows once the Martins have mated and laid eggs. Thanks for any input.


Started my colony in 2002. I had Purple Martins one month after I put up the pole. I got my neighbor interested, so he now has a setup of 12 gourds and about 8 pairs this year. I do photography and love taking photos of them. I had a hawk attack my pole last week, but no Martins were lost. The hawk hit the rack so hard he may have been injured. It's fun watching them. Anxious for the babies. From Sioux Falls, SD.

[C.C.Martins]

Welcome to the forum! Congrats on your martins, this is a great resource for questions.

Unfortunately sparrows and martins do not get along, there's a lot of danger there. The male sparrow may just decide to peck the martin eggs or go after the chicks.

Don't plug the holes and at this point ripping out nests may drive that male into a killing mode.

You have to be brutal about the sparrows, there are some techniques.

1. Shoot them.
2. If they are nesting, you can place a glue trap in the nest, must be real careful you don't mess it up too much or they suspect you have altered it. If they have eggs all the better put the eggs right on the glue trap. They will go right in and you can finish the job. MOST IMPORTANTLY: narrow the opening to 1 1/4 inches on those sparrow gourds or a martin might get in. Can do that with a butter tub lid, just cut it, cut the hole and staple it to the plastic front.

Offer nest box traps with van ert traps to keep them out of the martin houses.

There are lots of ways but once sparrows get a foot hold your colony is in danger. Shooting is preferred.
Tom

[Martintown33]

Congrats on your eggs and success., Agree with everything Tom said above. Do not trust the sparrows. They will peck holes in the Martin eggs and kill babies. Especially if you rip nests out or close up their holes. The male HOSPS are vengeful! Shoot or trap as Tom suggests..
Good luck!
Rob

[bbbdco]

Thanks for the info. I'd love to shoot them, but I live in a city with 150,000 people where that is "illegal." (unless there's a way to kill them with some kind of a pellet gun) I actually have 2 separate poles about 100 feet apart. Most of the sparrows are using the gourd rack with 8 gourds. The other rack of 16 is almost all Purple Martin. There is one Purple Martin nest in the 8-gourd rack. When the sparrows build nests, they absolutely stuff the gourd. I'm hoping for now most of the sparrows will stay on that pole. I'm having Total Knee surgery in a couple days, so getting out to the poles will be problematic. My neighbor says he will help. Next year I'll reconsider how to deal with this. Anyway, from now on I'll leave the nests alone for the moment so as not to stir them up this year.

[C.C.Martins]

Understand. Perhaps trapping is your best option then.

Hope the surgery goes well.
Tom

[Martintown33]

Best of luck on your surgery!
Rob

[BillieJR]

bbbdco......good luck with your knee surgery. I had both of mine done last year - one in April and the other in September. I feel so much better - I hope you will, too.

[randyM]

If the sparrow nests have eggs and not young, you can brush or submerse the eggs in mineral oil or vegetable oil and put them back into the nest. The oil will not allow sufficient transfer of oxygen into and out of the egg and they embryo inside the egg will die. The female will keep incubating the eggs for a week or two longer than a normal clutch but no young will be produced and the male sparrow will not go on a rampage as he may if eggs or young are removed from a nest.

[bbbdco]

Just giving everyone an update. My neighbor across the fence from me purchased a deluxe repeating sparrow trap which he set up a couple days ago. He’s already caught 12 sparrows the last two days. His trap is 20 feet from my Martin pole. I also made the holes on six of my “sparrow” gourds 1 1/4 inch, and I put a sticky trap inside each one with a sparrow egg on top of each one. I’m interested to see what happens. Anyway, as my neighbor continues to catch the sparrows, hopefully the population will decline. Thanks for everyone’s input.

[flyin-lowe]

Sparrows have a fairly small home range so you can definitely make an impact on the local population. Keep trapping and you will see the benefits.

[C.C.Martins]

Wow! What luck! Good for you! You can supplement their trapping by knocking together a bird house and put it within sight of your martin houses, stick a van ert trap in it. Those work great. I have what I call death row up against our house just under the eves, 5 starling and sparrow traps about 6 inches apart, caught 4 in an afternoon (one sparrow pair) dont remember how many total.

It will seem like a never ending battle but it can be done.
Last year we had sparrows everywhere, 102 removed permanently. This year the numbers just aren't there, I think I'm at 58 or something.
Flyin-lowe is correct, they say 1 to 2 mile range- sounds like alot but when they are starting to be removed you see the difference.
Best of luck!
Tom