Starling and sparrow pest control

[johnsonian09]

Ello. The starlings and sparrows have invaded. No more chickadees, titmouses bluebirds and orioles. Just starlings and sparrows.

I’ve been shooting the parents of fledgling starlings as they hop about. Then get the younger ones because they don’t leave their parent.

The sparrows seem endless I’ve counted more then 30.

If I term all the males will the females all leave?

My co worker who keeps snakes has been very happy this week. Gave him 17 frozen starlings


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[Duke3026]

The Starling’s do a job on Bluebirds, competing for nest cavities.

[country gent]

A decoy of an owl or other bird of prey may help for awhile more effective if you move it around every few days.

[Winger Ed.]

Sparrows will destroy the population of the song birds.
I've seen them drive off other birds while they were nest building. Also going into other bird's nests and throwing the chicks out.

Around here, we get rid of the easy to spot male sparrows on sight, all year long.
Getting rid of one male sparrow eliminates one nesting pair.

[megasupermagnum]

It seems it would be easier to just get out of the house and live life than it is to worry about what birds nest within shooting range of your house.

[Geezer in NH]

Tell us that when you have heart problems and have a hard time walking to the car.

Huh I cannot wait till you understand, Eh?

[Winger Ed.]

It seems it would be easier to just get out of the house and live life than it is to worry about what birds nest within shooting range of your house.

Some of us can multi-task.

[hoodat]

Heck, sometimes if I didn't shoot starlings, I wouldn't be doing any shooting at all. My highly pedigreed European bird dog has never retrieved a pheasant, but she's been busy with the starlings. jd

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[dverna]

An excellent safari with a decent air rifle.

[todd9.3x57]

a ruger 10/22 will work too.

[HWooldridge]

The sparrows cleaned off our grapes this year. We didn't have many due to the drought but I was trying to keep whatever was there. The birds were watching same as me, and they cleaned off most of the fruit in one day. I'm always amazed they know when stuff is ripe.

[johnsonian09]

I’ve been using my Airgun largely. I enjoy watching/listening to the song birds on weekend mornings. Just the invasive ones have ran them out this year.

I’ve moved an owl statue around and play hawk shrieks on a timer. They seem to have gotten used to both. Actually I think the blue jays have learned to imitate the hawk speakers.

I was curious mainly if all the male sparrows died if the females would leave. Guess that’s not the case. They don’t seem to be very smart. They will sit there right next to the body like it’s not even there.

Hopefully the locals will be back in a week or two.


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[wilecoyote]

...invasive species ?
you should deal with pidgeons, but the worst are now the seagulls, and here you can't even shoot 'em down

[Winger Ed.]

They will sit there right next to the body like it’s not even there.

A lot of animals will do that when their mate dies.

We have some song birds that look a lot like female sparrows, so I don't shoot them.
Killing the easy to identify males is sort of like an investment in the future.

[Rapier]

My job for years was guarding the chicken feed, in the feeders. I shot the sparrows on the wing with a 22 using shorts. Not too many sitting shots, could not shoot the feeders or a chicken. That was a few decades ago.

[MT Gianni]

At the age of 11 we would sit in my friends station wagon and shoot them over bait [bread crumbs] out of his folks station wagon. Things were different in 65.

[HWooldridge]

...invasive species ?
you should deal with pidgeons, but the worst are now the seagulls, and here you can't even shoot 'em down

I spent a lot of my youth shooting pigeons. The farmers were always trying to keep them out of their barns so we would go in and scare them off the roost then pop them outside when they circled back around. Some folks called them, “flying rats”…

[GregLaROCHE]

No starlings here, but I wish we had some bluebird’s to help with the insect population. They are around. I’ve seen them nesting around 3km from here. Any advice on how to get them to nest here?

[wilecoyote]

Some folks called them, “flying rats”…

I'm one of those folks, and really they are full of pathogenic germs like rats.
in fact, the only bonus of the seagulls is that here they attack and eat the pigeons too.

[Jeff Michel]

No starlings here, but I wish we had some bluebird’s to help with the insect population. They are around. I’ve seen them nesting around 3km from here. Any advice on how to get them to nest here?

We always put up a "blue bird" house. You have to monitor it because sparrows will move in at the first chance. To the OP, I use an air rifle for the starlings and a Hav-a-heart repeating trap for the sparrows. The live trap is nice because you can sort the good from the bad, so to speak. To our friend in Venice, they make repeating traps for pigeons as well.