Sparrow Traps

[504RP]

Built a couple of sparrow traps. Just finished one and set it out. Should found out soon if they work.

They are kind to tedious and time consuming to build. Got the design the go old fashioned American I looked at one someone else had made and stole their design !!!

But the one on line cost about $ 150 + another $ 72 shipping. And now that I built these and looked at a few other designs I am glad I went ahead and chose to build them myself because I don’t think I would have been happy with the one I saw on line.

It was missing important trap door that prevents the sparrows from getting back into the lower part of the trap door that would cause problems. I found that out by watching other videos that were built with the trap door added. And it’s pain to add and adds another hour on building the trap. And it was was only by accident that I done it that I added an extra brace to the frame that ended up making the trap sturdier and adds to an important part of the traps elevator to help
it avoid misfiring sort of speak. Long story to explain what I mean by that.

So because of those two additional things I done to my traps. I wouldn’t build and sell them for less than $ 300 and that wouldn’t include shipping. But I no intentions whatsoever in building them to sell.

These pictures are of them not yet completed. But have one finished and set. Will post a picture of it later.

 

[Warren Allison]

Just curious...why are you trapping them?

 

[504RP]

Warren when I was a boy my Mother use to always keep Martin house to keep them to help keep down mosquitoes and other pest. Back in those days a lot of people did. I remember a lot of the older boys in shop class building Martin bird houses for their parents and there was this one man had made a business of building bird houses in general. He must have kept an inventory of 4 to 500 houses and he was located on hwy 64 at which time was the main route of travel going East and West until the interstate I-40 was built years later. So around here back in the old days attracting Martins was a big thing. One man held a blue grass show several times a year up on a mountain near hear. He also had around I would guess around hundred Martin houses that was an attraction in itself and part of the reason for drawing big crowds to see his blue grass shows.

I got a few whippings and my BB gun taken away from over shooting Martins off of my Mothers Martin house. When I was 7 or 8 years old.

So after I got out on my own as a young adult and bought my first home I have I guess just tried to keep Martins myself because it brings back a lot of fond memories although haven’t had as much luck at getting them established.

But I know now why. Sparrows are one if not the biggest reasons Martins won’t stay around. Sparrows take over bird houses and if the house you put up was intended for Martins. You might draw a few mating pairs in for a while but eventually and pretty quickly the Sparrows will run them off in a number of different ways.

First they take over as many and eventually all of the compartments the bird house happens to have. And sparrows can build a nest easily in a weeks time. And what compartments in the same bird house that has Martins in will get raided and result in having any eggs they might have laid busted by the sparrows or if there are any baby Martins the sparrows will kill those. Sparrows might be small but can bite down hard and kill even adult Martins when the Martins try to fight them off.

But there are other things like chicken snakes, coons etc…., that can raid Martin boxes too but not as bad as Sparrows. You can buy snake guards that attach to the poles of bird houses but I think I can build better ones than what is on the Market they have for sale. Just haven’t had time to build them yet.

These gourd Martin houses are designed so that you can raise and lower them via pulleys sort of like a flag pole. The gourds have inspection caps that can be screwed on/off like a jar lid that’s about 6 inches in diameter and the gourd itself is about the equivalent of one gallon capacity. Sparrows can pack one of those so full and tight the nest itself resembles a football. Pretty amazing. Sparrows are considered an invasive species. So unless you try and control them. You won’t keep Martins around for very long no matter how good of houses you put up for them.

Martins migrate from the Amazon rain forests in Brazil in South America. They have ruffly a 2000 mile + one way flight to get here to hNorth America. If they find a location here and are successful at raising a clutch of babies. They will return back to the same location and use the same compartment they used the season before. To me that’s kind of amazing they are able to navigate 2 to 6,000 miles one way and then remember a year latter which particular compartment they raised their last brood in a year latter.

My little sit up only has 8 gourds per pole. Or 16 between both poles. The man who told me where to buy these gourd Martin houses has at least 12 poles, each double decker jobs two levels, 8 gourds per level. It’s a pretty impressive site seeing that many Martin s swarming. Brings back memories of the man on the mountain that also had the Blue grass festival I was telling about.

Soooo !!!! That’s why I am trapping sparrows. Heck that’s a challenge in itself. Little pest are a challenge in itself to try and control them. And those darn sparrow traps aren’t easy for an old man like me to build.

Wife suggested I build them for a job now that I am retired. Told her that wasn’t happening !!!! Although I think I could build on in a fraction of the time it took me to build these now that I learned a few tricks to make it easier.

 

[wbvs58]

Warren when I was a boy my Mother use to always keep Martin house to keep them to help keep down mosquitoes and other pest. Back in those days a lot of people did. I remember a lot of the older boys in shop class building Martin bird houses for their parents and there was this one man had made a business of building bird houses in general. He must have kept an inventory of 4 to 500 houses and he was located on hwy 64 at which time was the main route of travel going East and West until the interstate I-40 was built years later. So around here back in the old days attracting Martins was a big thing. One man held a blue grass show several times a year up on a mountain near hear. He also had around I would guess around hundred Martin houses that was an attraction in itself and part of the reason for drawing big crowds to see his blue grass shows.

I got a few whippings and my BB gun taken away from over shooting Martins off of my Mothers Martin house. When I was 7 or 8 years old.

So after I got out on my own as a young adult and bought my first home I have I guess just tried to keep Martins myself because it brings back a lot of fond memories although haven’t had as much luck at getting them established.

But I know now why. Sparrows are one if not the biggest reasons Martins won’t stay around. Sparrows take over bird houses and if the house you put up was intended for Martins. You might draw a few mating pairs in for a while but eventually and pretty quickly the Sparrows will run them off in a number of different ways.

First they take over as many and eventually all of the compartments the bird house happens to have. And sparrows can build a nest easily in a weeks time. And what compartments in the same bird house that has Martins in will get raided and result in having any eggs they might have laid busted by the sparrows or if there are any baby Martins the sparrows will kill those. Sparrows might be small but can bite down hard and kill even adult Martins when the Martins try to fight them off.

But there are other things like chicken snakes, coons etc…., that can raid Martin boxes too but not as bad as Sparrows. You can buy snake guards that attach to the poles of bird houses but I think I can build better ones than what is on the Market they have for sale. Just haven’t had time to build them yet.

View attachment 68980These gourd Martin houses are designed so that you can raise and lower them via pulleys sort of like a flag pole. The gourds have inspection caps that can be screwed on/off like a jar lid that’s about 6 inches in diameter and the gourd itself is about the equivalent of one gallon capacity. Sparrows can pack one of those so full and tight the nest itself resembles a football. Pretty amazing. Sparrows are considered an invasive species. So unless you try and control them. You won’t keep Martins around for very long no matter how good of houses you put up for them.

Martins migrate from the Amazon rain forests in Brazil in South America. They have ruffly a 2000 mile + one way flight to get here to hNorth America. If they find a location here and are successful at raising a clutch of babies. They will return back to the same location and use the same compartment they used the season before. To me that’s kind of amazing they are able to navigate 2 to 6,000 miles one way and then remember a year latter which particular compartment they raised their last brood in a year latter.

My little sit up only has 8 gourds per pole. Or 16 between both poles. The man who told me where to buy these gourd Martin houses has at least 12 poles, each double decker jobs two levels, 8 gourds per level. It’s a pretty impressive site seeing that many Martin s swarming. Brings back memories of the man on the mountain that also had the Blue grass festival I was telling about.

Soooo !!!! That’s why I am trapping sparrows. Heck that’s a challenge in itself. Little pest are a challenge in itself to try and control them. And those darn sparrow traps aren’t easy for an old man like me to build.

Wife suggested I build them for a job now that I am retired. Told her that wasn’t happening !!!! Although I think I could build on in a fraction of the time it took me to build these now that I learned a few tricks to make it easier.

How do you kill the sparrows?

Ken

 

[M.Magis]

However you want I suppose. We used to use a BB gun.

 

[504RP]

How do you kill the sparrows?

Ken

Haven’t crossed that bridge yet although it’s legal to kill them because they are an invasive species and have read you can get permits to poison them which I would think be a lot more successful and easier than trapping them. But you could also very easily end up in trouble going that route I would think. So there’s no way I would even consider that.

Plus I like to think I have some ethics. I have and never have had no remorse over killing animals for what I consider ethical reasons. Which are population control to manage there numbers. With the dwindling habitat for the wild life here in the U.S. that is a sad thing in my opinion. I think management of game populations is the right and necessary humane thing to do. Better that than letting them over populate and die of starvation which is a cruel way for ann animal to die. Again that’s just my opinion.

And I have talked with the game & fish about killing them and was told killing them year round is perfectly legal because sparrows don’t have any predators or other ways for nature to control their populations. And there are more than one species of them that they are in short out of control and are a threat in a way to other species of birds like Martins and blue birds partly from what I have described already.

 

[504RP]

However you want I suppose. We used to use a BB gun.

That was my first choice too. I bought both a pellet gun and a 22 rifle that shoots shorts. And killed a few sparrows and starlings with them.

I can’t shoot birds off of the bird houses with the 22 shorts because of the possibility of damage to the bird houses from bullet holes. And sparrows are very smart and learn quick. And 40 yards is about the max distance to shoot sparrows with a pellet gun.

And because sparrows can easily build a nest in a week. So someone else might have better luck
than I can at controlling the sparrows with pellet guns or 22’s but I haven’t been able to.

It’s just my opinion and I have tried off and on several times over the years to establish Martins and kind of a few times have had a few Martins for a while and never could figure out why sometimes I would for a while have them and then have them leave out latter for some unknown reasons. Now know why. (Predators)

Sparrows are the top contenders. Haven’t had any problems with Starlins, Martins especially when they establish a colony can handle the Starlings. Chicken and rat snakes I can see easily as being the second worst predator because they raid randomly but I could see and was told crawl in a nest cavity of a night after the Martins have gone to roost and block the exit or entry trapping all
the birds and swallowing everything in the nest cavity. And will clean out every bird in the particular nest sight all
in one night. Like one of those 8 gourd pole houses I posted in the picture or even both of those houses. Having learned this. I now wonder if that was why over the years past why all of a sudden I have lost all of the Martins way before their hatchlings were capable of flying. I think that’s what happens.

And then you have raccoons that can climb the poles and reach inside the nest cavity and fish the birds out while they are roosting at night.

I started out just wanting to attract these martins I guess in a way to relieve my childhood memories. And as far as that reason and just enjoy watching the Martins and listening to them sing. I am not so sure they have that much effect on mosquitoes or other bugs. Have read they help control fire aints by catching the queen fire ain’t when they swarm sort of like honey bees. And read that female Martin has to feed each of its babies 30 times a day insects and works like maybe army worms. That all also makes them sort of interesting birds.

But now my main reasons for establishing them is the challenge. There’s not no damn bunch of sparrows or other predators going to whip me !!!

 

[SBMF 2015]

When I was a kid. Dad and I would shine sparrows. After a rain storm they would roost early in the trees. So dad with a flashlight and me with my trusty Red Rider BB gun, with a herd of cats in tow would shine the trees after dark. And I would make it rain sparrows. We didn’t do it very often but it sure was fun!

 

[M.Magis]

When I was a kid. Dad and I would shine sparrows. After a rain storm they would roost early in the trees. So dad with a flashlight and me with my trusty Red Rider BB gun, with a herd of cats in tow would shine the trees after dark. And I would make it rain sparrows. We didn’t do it very often but it sure was fun!

Giving me ideas… Never too old to have fun shooting varmints.

 

[Silver]

We have a white throated sparrow up here. I love hearing their song.

 

[504RP]

When I was a kid. Dad and I would shine sparrows. After a rain storm they would roost early in the trees. So dad with a flashlight and me with my trusty Red Rider BB gun, with a herd of cats in tow would shine the trees after dark. And I would make it rain sparrows. We didn’t do it very often but it sure was fun!

That brings back a child hood memory for me of when I was around maybe 10 years old. My best friend at that age and I would use a flash light and shine sparrows with a flash light under the eves of barns and old houses using daisy BB guns. I had forgotten all about that.

 

[504RP]

We have a white throated sparrow up here. I love hearing their song.

We are supposed to have two or three different varieties of sparrows here but I had really never noticed that until I started shooting them due to them raiding the Martin house’s.

I had shot one type of sparrow that was a real small species of sparrow but am sure it was in fact a sparrow and had shot it off of the Martin house just as my wife walked up. She kind of sighed and said aw !!! That’s a little bitty bird and isn’t a sparrow. I explained to her yes it was just a a different one of the species of sparrows that we have and is a little smaller in size. So she asked what species of sparrow was it called. I told her “ a good shot species ! “ Little dude wasn’t as big as a golf ball but i nailed him at about 40 yards after having used a littLe Kentucky windage and aiming high. Just got lucky to hit it that far with my pellet gun.

 

[504RP]

When I was a kid. Dad and I would shine sparrows. After a rain storm they would roost early in the trees. So dad with a flashlight and me with my trusty Red Rider BB gun, with a herd of cats in tow would shine the trees after dark. And I would make it rain sparrows. We didn’t do it very often but it sure was fun!

When I was in the National Guard we had a 2 Week summer camp in Illinois we spent most of our time out in the field sleeping on the ground when we would get a chance to sleep. The first night there as soon as it got dark every howitzer and ammo carrier started getting raided by raccoon's. I will say one thing for Illinois or that part of Illinois there are a lot of Raccoons there and big Raccoons at that. Anything from someone’s Army boots to shaving kits or anything else those coon’s could get in their mouth and run off with they did !

There were lots or corn fields on that base where we were at.

One time we had a Summer camp near Colorado Springs where a few of the guys got into trouble over shooting the prairie dogs using spent M16 cartridges. They would stick the spent cartridge into the end of the M16 and lay on their belly about 15 foot from the prairie dogs mound and wait until it would pop its head up out of its hole and then try and shoot it. Those boys got in some petty big trouble over doing that little deal.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Oh, I forgot about the sparrow that I shot off the back of my parents couch in the living room!
I was probably 10-12 years old. Home by myself and had the back door open for some reason and a sparrow flew in. I chased him a little but wasn’t going to catch him. So I waited for him to land and I smoked him with my pump up BB gun. My logic was that the bb wouldn’t pass all the way through. Good idea, but too many pumps. The bb did a through and through. Stuck in the paneling and had a tiny pin feather sticking out of the hole!
I think I got my sparrow hunting privileges revoked for a couple weeks for that one. Lol

 

[SBMF 2015]

When I was in the National Guard we had a 2 Week summer camp in Illinois we spent most of our time out in the field sleeping on the ground when we would get a chance to sleep. The first night there as soon as it got dark every howitzer and ammo carrier started getting raided by raccoon's. I will say one thing for Illinois or that part of Illinois there are a lot of Raccoons there and big Raccoons at that. Anything from someone’s Army boots to shaving kits or anything else those coon’s could get in their mouth and run off with they did !

There were lots or corn fields on that base where we were at.

One time we had a Summer camp near Colorado Springs where a few of the guys got into trouble over shooting the prairie dogs using spent M16 cartridges. They would stick the spent cartridge into the end of the M16 and lay on their belly about 15 foot from the prairie dogs mound and wait until it would pop its head up out of its hole and then try and shoot it. Those boys got in some petty big trouble over doing that little deal.

Yep. We’ve got coons the size of grizzly cubs around here. And they tear up everything.

 

[504RP]

Oh, I forgot about the sparrow that I shot off the back of my parents couch in the living room!
I was probably 10-12 years old. Home by myself and had the back door open for some reason and a sparrow flew in. I chased him a little but wasn’t going to catch him. So I waited for him to land and I smoked him with my pump up BB gun. My logic was that the bb wouldn’t pass all the way through. Good idea, but too many pumps. The bb did a through and through. Stuck in the paneling and had a tiny pin feather sticking out of the hole!
I think I got my sparrow hunting privileges revoked for a couple weeks for that one. Lol

Now that’s funny right there !!! lol ! Reminds me of the first time I got my fist Daisy BB gun taken away from me and getting a whipping with those green whip like branches my Mother always cut off of that specialized bush she supposedly grew because of its beauty.

Beauty my behind !!!! I believe that bush had to been something that people had imported from Africa back in the 1800’s just for the purpose of whipping mules into submission in order to break them for pulling wagons or plows !!! Man mom wasn’t but maybe 5’-3” tall and weigh 130 lbs. but I sure done my best to avoid making her mad because I knew I was going to get a whipping from that dang devil bush she grew.

I remember the last time she was going to give me a whipping using those switches. I was 18 years old and had graduated high school. Can’t remember what I had done to make her mad but she cut her a hand full of those switches and I took them away from her and threw them on the ground. Man did that piss her off !!! I swear the look on her face was enough to scare me worse than the whipping I was going to get. There was a peace of a 2X 4 about 4 foot long laying on the ground so she grabbed it with both hands going to whip me with it and I grabbed the end of it in mid swing as she was was swinging it like a chopping axe right for my head !!! Man alive I had done mad her some kind of mad. I had caught that 2 x 4 in mid air and stopped it and just held it kind of smiling and at the same time taking it away from her telling her she wasn’t going to ever whip me again. Boy you talking about one mad little woman. She was it.

I loved my Mother and she was as good of a woman there ever was but had a hard life. She was the oldest of 15 kids. She was taken out of school when she was in the 3rd grade and had to stay home and help raise the rest of her younger brothers and sisters as they were born. So she had a hard life and then she raised her own kids that numbered 7 of us. And by the time she got around to raising me. Not only was she very experienced at raising kids but she had also used mules and draft horses to work crops and gardens. I think that’s where she learned how to grow those bushes that were probably used to whip mules and draft horse’s with and was a little trick she learned worked well on making kids mind and behave. Because I will vouch that buddy I toed the line when growing up with her as my mother and learned when she said jump to ask how high on on the way up !!!

The added a hole new meaning to
the title mule skinner !!!

 

[Travlr]

I like birds, and I tend to be as environmentally careful as I can be... but I really don't like European starlings. They are an invasive species that kills other birds by raiding their nests.

I've often thought it would be good to make a solar powered bi-metal tape that you could run along an electrical line where they like to roost as they migrate... and with facial recognition you could ZAP the line and kill hundreds at a time without even being there.