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Yah, I think I’ve caught what I’m going to catch in this location anyway, I’ve been debating moving it.
Its on a platform over foot off the ground, though the grass around it needs to be cut (its been to wet to mow). The downy and the Orioles are whats really getting me. I did show my husband the female orioles and he says they’re bigger than what he removed from the trap. I’m leaning towards one of the yellow warblers, we have a couple of them here. I don’t have suet out at all. At least you’ve confirmed that I’ve not forgotten something major. I was standing by the window when the two female Orioles hopped into it. They literally flew down, landed on it, and then one after the other went in! WTH?! Oh well.
Ok, looking for some input. I’ve not had much problems prior to this year with other birds in the trap. A couple other sparrows is it. Early this spring all the sudden we had a mad influx of Song Sparrows in the trap, thinking it was the location where the trap was, we moved it (it was near a brush pile that the Song Sparrows love). And that stopped the influx of Song Sparrows. But in the last month I’ve rescued several White Crowned Sparrows, a male Cowbird, a Downy Woodpecker, yesterday my husband rescued a “kinda looked like a Goldfinch but the beak was wrong”, and today I had two female Baltimore Orioles in it! I’m still catching HOSP, but I’m at a loss as to why such a variety of other birds are so suddenly climbing into the trap.
Well, I caught 2 mice yesterday and two more today. Seriously, mice. Adorable too. But they went the way of the HOSP since a couple fewer mice to try to invade my house for the winter is a good thing.
Trapping may work best during those periods, the concept makes sense, but I figure any I remove from the gene pool is worth it.
This is my first summer with the trap, but I’ve been getting a constant dribble of HOSP. I figure I’ll trap up until we start getting snow, and then pull it for the winter.
Mine is less than 6 inches off the ground, and right next to some bushes. I’ve caught 3 Song Sparrows, 5 Cowbirds, and bunches of HOSP. I HATE catching the Song’s, but I,m hoping that they’ll remember and not get trapped again. Unfortunetly if I move it close to the feeders, or raise it up signifigantly I make it visible from the road, and I don’t entirely trust my neighbors to not try to release the sparrows. So I cope.
Hi, Ruth. Personally I find that both males and females draw more HOSP in the trap. I don’t see a difference. And it seems that the more birds I have in there the more HOSP I attract. They all want to join the fun. Now is a great time to trap because there are fledglings.
Like Darrell suggested, You almost have to use a van Ert trap if you have a HOSP that has zeroed in on one of your boxes. The repeating trap is for the general HOSP population. Yep… it’s best if you remove that trap off the nestbox.I’d be glad to talk about disposing of the HOSP. I’ll personal message you tomorrow.
Thanks!
I have one actually, but the whole one bird at a time thing was getting to me. But yah, it doesn’t look like he’s going to climb into the repeating trap. Which I moved to under my feeders last night, and this morning had 10 birds in it!
I’ve got euthanasia questions, and I see that general discussion of that isn’t allowed in this thread, is there another place for it?
Hello All! I’ve had the trap now for about 3.5 weeks.
The first two weeks I had it in a location where I’d seen HOSP on a regular basis, and tried a variety of baits with no success.
I then moved it to sit on top of one of my bluebird houses (with a board underneath). In alot of ways I hate this location, and am terrified that I’m going to catch a BB. But so far I’ve not even seen a BB close to it, and instead have actually started catching HOSP! Not in the numbers that some folks on here talk about, but most days I catch one or two, which is enough to make me happy. I may move it again shortly though, and see if I can find a spot near my bird feeders for it.
Couple questions. Is it worth trying to maintain more than one bait bird? Does having multiple birds in the trap help draw in more? Does male or female make a difference?
I have one male HOSP, who’s determined to nest in that BB house. And he’s completely undeterred by the trap sitting on top of it. Infact, over the weekend I trapped another male in it, and the original male spent all day attacking the trap, till I euthanised the trapped male. Now he’s gone back to ignoring the trap completely (there’s a female HOSP in it now).
I’m really hoping I can reduce my local HOSP population enough to have BBs nesting successfully again. I’ve only had one successful nesting since the summer of 2012!
