Big Problems with the Invasive House Sparrows and European Starlings

Both European Starlings and House Sparrows are not native to the United States and both can cause serious problems for Backyard Birds. In a previous post I addressed the ways to discourage these birds from feeding in your backyard.

The more serious problem these birds present is their aggressive nature of nesting that will cause problems for your purple martins and bluebirds. Choosing the right decorative birdhouse or nesting box becomes more critical when dealing with these birds

This is a problem which as I researched I found very disturbing. I am having difficulty writing this post. This is the best information I could get without getting into areas of poison and killing.

European Starlings

European Starlings were first introduced to the United States in 1890. The story is that one hundred starlings were released in New York’s Central Park in hopes that all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's works would become established in the New World.
In the hundred years since those starlings were released the population has grown to an estimated 150-200 million birds. Today starlings are considered pests more than anything else

What is the problem?

• When purple martins are away, starlings will destroy any eggs or young they find in the nests. Often, if a starling is able to capture or trap an adult martin in its' cavity, they will even kill them. Once they evict the owners of the compartment, they often slip from cavity to cavity, destroying the eggs and young in the other cavities. They drive the returning martins away and prevent them from nesting in the house. On occasion a pair of starlings will build their nest right on top of baby martins that aren’t even dead yet
  
• Northern Flickers population decline is partially attributed to the European Starling taking over their nesting cavities. As secondary excavators, European starlings rely on flickers to do the work of finding a suitable site & excavating a cavity. The starlings then move in to over take the flickers and then seize the nesting cavity.
  
• Starlings also steal chicken feed and corn silage, and they eat seedlings in fields of grain.

Eliminating them:

• One of the major discoveries in the last few years to control the starling infestation is the crescent shaped (Starling Resistant Entrance Holes) SREH's. 99% of all starlings will be kept out of martin housing with this shape entrance hole. If starlings are a problem in your area than a gourd birdhouse with oval entrance hole is one of the first things you should look for. Starlings hate them.
  
• For your other nesting birds the best ways to keep the European starlings away is to make sure your birdhouses are the right specifications (see chart) which will be too small for starlings to get in. Make your bluebird nest box entrance holes no larger than 1 9/16” and have good portal protectors.
  
• Remember to not feed them as I discussed in previous post

House sparrows

First you see one cute little sparrow chirping. Then, a few weeks later you notice several more sparrows have joined the first one. Now a year later, the House sparrows have seemingly taken over the trees surrounding your property and signs of their nests protrude from siding, gutters and every other available crack and crevice of your house.

House sparrows are prolific nest builders that never are satisfied with the size of their bird accommodations

What is the problem?

• House Sparrows are probably the most important causes of Bluebird decline. House Sparrows not only destroy songbird eggs, they kill the adult and the young birds by attacking them in the nest box and scalping the birds with their hooked beaks. Then to add further insult, they often build their nest over the bodies of their victims.
  
• If you can’t find a safe place away from House Sparrows for your nest boxes or undertake a sparrow control program, you are probably causing more harm than good to your backyard songbirds.
  
• Sparrows also will invade purple martin houses. First they make their home in one cavity which is evident by the overflowing nesting materials bulging out of the box. Once they are settled in, they too go from compartment to compartment, 'pinning' (pecking holes in) the eggs in the entire house. Like the European starling a house sparrow’s motive is to prevent the raising of other bird’s young so that there is less competition in the future. Sparrows will eventually fill all the cavities of the house, making it un-inhabitable by martins

Eliminating them

• Filling in the cracks of your house where the birds are gaining entry using 19 gauge hardware cloth.
  
• Unlike the European starling where the entrance hole modifications and precise birdhouse dimensions will take care of the majority of problems. The house sparrow can get into an entrance hole as small as 1 3/16 which enables them to get in almost any nesting box or birdhouse.
  
• There are traps from PMAC available for the specific purpose of capturing sparrows. All of these traps catch the birds, and then hold them, unharmed, until you deal with them. If you just can't seem to bring yourself to dispose of them and you will need to drive them as far as 20 miles to get rid of them. The birds you trap can also be given to local bird rehabilitation centers to feed to injured raptors.
  
• Since House Sparrows don’t migrate, you may be able to keep them away by trapping and getting rid of them in your area.
  
• House Sparrow nests must be removed and destroyed immediately when found. You must also destroy the eggs and young.

The alternatives for getting rid of the birds are endless. All you have to do is type in bird control in Google and see the numerous choices. What really works is another story. A company that receives referrals from Audubon society is Bird X whose policy is to provide non-lethal, non-harmful, environmentally safe and ecologically sound products. Of course contacting your local pest control company is another alternative. These birds are not protected by law so they can be killed but this is an area I still feel very uncomfortable about.

Additional information on some of the trap products available from PMAC

• There's a wire cage called a Repeating Bait Trap. With the correct placement of this trap, you can catch sparrow after sparrow.
  
• If they are bothering a wooden house where the front is removable for access, they have a simple little trap called the INT-1, Insert Trap, that you attach inside the access hole and upon entering the house, the sparrow is trapped until you retrieve it.
  
• If you have an aluminum house, they have a device called a Spare-O-Door. Again, the sparrow enters the house, is trapped and held in a plastic bag until you retrieve it.
  
• For bluebird boxes, there is a Nest Box Trap that has the INT-1 installed in it to catch the ones that won't leave your bluebirds alone. All you have to do is temporarily replace your bluebird box with it until you catch the sparrow, then replace your bluebird house.
  
  
  For more information on these non-native, nuisance species, go here: North American Bluebird
  Society

If you are looking to buy a decorative birdhouse or nesting box.. visit my website

Some other articles you may be interested in:
Get Rid of those Bully Birds- Stop Feeding Them
Concerns for Birds in America
What you need to know about the 39 Most Common Birds in America