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I ordered some spooker tape formmy upcoming sparrow spooker. I will do whatever it takes to keep this box safe. Learned the hard way last year literally the day they fledged. Horrible. Only one made it out alive.
Awesome job Chris. Keep up the great work. If only every block in America had a Chris! People have no idea what they’re missing.
Matt that is great to hear. I was wondering if you can freeze these things and sell them to reptile owners. Who knows. Probably too diseased….but freezong shoild kill disease . Anyways, yeah, as many have said on this site….you have to get the males most. Once they loke a box they will never leave it alone. So you should be able to get him easily. Good luck and keep us posted….and educate as many as you can.
Hi Matt. I have a ground cage trap that seems to have really active times of year, especially fall and winter. But just caught a few today. This is how I catch the vast majority. I put it where I see sparrows congregate. Bait it with bread and crackers and put some scattered near and on top of the trap too so they get a taste first. Play sparrow sounds (youtube or something) on a bluetooth speaker placed next to it to draw them near if you have to. If you catch onenor two be patient and try to get as many as you can. I usually get no more than 3 or 4 at a time. Dispose and set again. I leave the dead ones out for the foxes and possums at night. To dispose, buy a couple cheap mesh laundry bags, wear gloves, carefully put the bag around the cage exit, open it and MAKE SURE THERE IS NO WAY THEY CAN ESCAPE THE BAG…they will find any loose end trust me… and shake them into the bag hard a bunch of times until they are all in….push them to the very bottom in a clutch….twist the bag…find a hard surface and swing hard and fast 2 or 3 times. Done.
My second trap is the van ert trap (ebay). These are great in early spring and throughoit nestimg season. If you see activity on or near a bird house, set the box trap. Wait and hope for the male to go in.once you catch him…and you will….take the box off the pole and drape your laundry bag around the front and sides. Again, make sure you have absolutely no escape path. The bag has to be tight….open the box and push the bastard into the bag and squeeze the bag so it can’t get past your hand. You know the rest.
I was inspired by a youtube video of some guy who put a box on his barn with a hole inside the box that leads to a sparrow repeating cage trap in the barn. He emptied it out daily. He said the first two years he caught 500 each year. Then around 100 the third…he is now down to a handful a year and said all the native songbirds have returned.
Oh one more thing…make sure they are house sparrows. Sometimes a song sparrow or a female or young house finch gets in and it is damned hard to tell them apart. And in winter the juncos and white throat sparrows always seem to get in. Usually i am able to keep the sparrow back and shoo the good birds out but sometimes it is a lost trapping.
Same. They don’t know they even exist. People have no idea what they are missing out on if they would just remove sparrows from their neighborhood.
Thanks Judy…and who can blame them? There is no public education like there is with other problems like lanterflies…when I first started getting into birds I was shocked that sparrows were that nasty. I even didn’t know how bad until I saw it firsthand for the first time. Shocked me. I knew starlings were bad but not little brown birds. Well if anyone wants to help do their part I am going to print something up for me and get an instagram page going.
Spend the entire year destroying sparrows. I had the same thing happen last year so I dedicated the rest of the year eliminating as many as I can catch. Up to about 85 now. I notice a lot less around but it will be a constant battle. Sorry to hear this.
It sounds harsh, but try to trap and eliminate that sparrow. The bluebirds may win the battle outside the box but those little devils will come back when the adults or babies are trapped in the box and peck them to death. Seen it happen too many times for bluebirds chickadees and tree swallows. Please get rid of them. Thinknof them as rats, mice….antern flies. They are harmful invadive species.
