Sparrow nest question: open or close?

[bbbdco]

I have a question about what to do with my sparrow nests. I live in South Dakota. I have 24 gourds in my setup. 16 of the gourds are occupied by purple martins. All 16 have well established nests. Egg laying should begin shortly. Two gourds are empty. And six are used by house sparrows. I have euthanized about 30 sparrows so far. I remove the six house sparrow nests during every nest check. The sparrow population has been reduced quite a bit. Since all my purple martins are here for the year, does anyone ever close the Nests that the sparrows are using? Or should I just keep those six Nests open, and just keep removing the nests? If I were to close those six nests, would the purple martins defend their nests? Or would the sparrows try to take over a Martin nest. I have three Van Ert sparrow traps set up for euthanizing the sparrows. I’m just curious what other people do with the gourds that the sparrows continue to use.

[John Miller]

You are in a bit of a tough situation. Keep trying to trap if you can, but at this point I'd probably not continue nest pulling and not close the house sparrow gourds. Because the sparrow pairs have reached their own egg laying stage, pulling their nests likely is going to make the male house sparrows more aggressive. They will go around tossing martin eggs, and even newly hatched martin young. The martins can't defend themselves well as they have wide peaks for collecting bugs in the air and house sparrows have vise like beaks for pecking. If you block the entrances, at this stage I think will make them even meaner. If you can't trap well, you could addle sparrow eggs to slow them down, maybe remove all but two or even one egg, but not set off what some folks call "male house sparrow revenge."

[flyin-lowe]

I too stop pulling nests once I have martin eggs as the male can go on a pecking spree and destroying eggs. If I were in your shoes, here is what I would do. I would pull the nest and put something over the opening to slightly reduce the size so a martin can't get in. Some people cut the lid from a cottage cheese container and cover part of your existing opening. I then use a glue trap designed for mice. If you go this route you have to ensure you have the opening reduced so martins can't get in and you also have to have a spot where you can observe the house from to ensure no BB's or other native birds come flying in. You should never set a glue trap and leave it unattended. I use these only as a last resort but from time to time ever few seasons I have a pair of HOSP I just can trap or get a shot at. I used one on a pair this year, it is the first time I have had to use one in quite some time. Fortunately I got them in less than 5 minutes.

[Martintown33]

Agree with the above responses. Pulling nests will make the male HOSPS very aggressive and dangerous to Martin eggs and young. Best option is to shoot or trap… don’t trust those HOSPS.. they are sneaky and deadly..
Good luck,
Rob