Sad, Sad

DelmaWhisenhunt · Thu May 15, 2014 7:49 pm

Do believe the sparrows and squirrels has ruined my dream with the martins. Not near as many coming around, found martin egg on the ground with a hole in it, Sparrows seem to have come by the dozens. Still doing everything I can to combat the war, but its a daily war. The weather has cleared so maybe tomorrow will tell the story.

taxidermy lady · Thu May 15, 2014 8:45 pm

Oh my, Delma sorry for that. Can you shoot those darn things. I know if you are in town you can not, but it is sure beneficial. Scares the grap out of them. I monitor mine all day when I am working in my shop. But I can not afford to let them even land on mine. I need a female. Good luck!

~Ray~Gingerich · Fri May 16, 2014 7:41 am

Do you have thick bushes or hedges the sparrows are hiding in? They love to hang around in those, especially holly trees and thick evergreens. When I started with my first 2 pair I watched all day, if any sparrows went to the houses I would immediatly chase them off or shot at them. I noticed they would always fly over to a red cedar tree to hide so I cut the tree down. Another thing you could do is hire a school kid with a BB gun to hunt them down. If you know where they roost at night chase them out of there. Good luck, I hope your colony survives

Danno in VB · Fri May 16, 2014 10:59 am

Delma,
There are several plans to build a "Sparrow trap"
They work.
I had a single pair of persistant House Sparrows nesting in one of my houses.
I placed the bulit and placed the trap near the house before the Martins arrived.
Sure enought I caught my first male the very next day.
Dispose of as your conscience permits.
I have a grandson watching so I took the little bugger out to a park 12 miles from my home and released him.
(They only have a normal range of about 5 miles or so.)
I haven't seen him or his lady since. She hung around for a day or two but then left for greener pastures.
If you aren't ahndy, they sell these traps online. A little pricy but they do catch the sparrows.

Hope this helps.

R/

Dan

DelmaWhisenhunt wrote:Do believe the sparrows and squirrels has ruined my dream with the martins. Not near as many coming around, found martin egg on the ground with a hole in it, Sparrows seem to have come by the dozens. Still doing everything I can to combat the war, but its a daily war. The weather has cleared so maybe tomorrow will tell the story.

DelmaWhisenhunt · Fri May 16, 2014 11:09 am

Today am seeing martins around much more, they seem to be settling in again. My son and two or three other people told me to get axle grease and grease the poles really well and the squirrels could not climb the pole. So will give this idea a try. I have baited the wire sparrow trap again, and placed bits and pieces of junk like they like to put in nests to see if they will venture into the trap. Last time I set it, stayed there three or four days and they paid no attention whatsoever. Most times they like small grain and white crackers. The houses are out in the open, but of course hide outs aren't far away. Did see a couple of martins take a sparrow to the ground, twice. Best fight I have seen in a long time, just wish they would do more of the same.

Chuck4 · Fri May 16, 2014 1:42 pm

Delma, at the very least you should install pole guards on all of your poles. It sounds like you don't use them. Greasing them will not stop a determined snake or raccoon. Squirrels are very cunning too.

http://www.purplemartin.org/main/besttips.html

pmlover · Fri May 16, 2014 2:58 pm

I have 20 bluebird houses near my martin houses at various stra
tegical distances. 5 bbs in them 5 tree swallows and guess what the other ten are for starlings and sparrows I got 20 sparrows and ten starlings last week and 10 of the two this week. My s&s controller is broken so these trap houses are great
Dick

taxidermy lady · Fri May 16, 2014 3:02 pm

Awesome strategy!

threelilkids · Sat May 17, 2014 7:52 pm

Delma, so sorry to hear this, the only way I got the sparrows out of the house was to put a trap in the house. I caught 1 to 3 sparrows a day, didn't even know I had that many going around the Martin house. I have a repeat trap that I bait but when the sparrows are nesting I don't catch a thing with it, I found that you need different traps for different seasons. Good luck I am sooo rooting for you.