Comments on My Backyard: Big Problems with the Invasive House Sparrows and ...

It would be hard to eliminate that kind of intrude...

2011-09-19T04:50:41.763-04:00

It would be hard to eliminate that kind of intruders on your own. Collecting a bunch of sparrows to do the work is no easy feat. I suggest hiring professional services.

These problems should be solved immediately so the...

2011-07-20T05:24:55.802-04:00

These problems should be solved immediately so they can maintain the wellness of the environment.

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Hi there, I find your blog great. I am looking fo...

2010-02-21T07:21:30.691-05:00

Hi there,

I find your blog great. I am looking for people to help decreasing the numbers of Starlings and House Sparrows.

There is not much more to say - you have it all covered.

Also Mark does have good advice regarding how to remove them.

I concentrate on male HOSP (females are harder to identify) and Starlings.

I kept a lot of pressure on both species for the last two years- with good results... but it's only local and other birds are waiting to move in.

Would be great if there would be more people 'ganging up'

I realize that many are uncomfortable with killing...

2009-10-29T18:35:02.634-04:00

I realize that many are uncomfortable with killing birds, but with invasive house sparrows, it's really the only way.

But, if you can screw up the gumption to kill them (which is the only ecologically responsible thing to do), you need to make sure you can identify them. female sparrows look a lot like a number of birds, especially finches.

This link helped me quite a bit.

http://www.sialis.org/otherbrownbirds.htm

Trapping will work very well, but a pellet gun is very effective too, if the birds are coming in for sunflower seed. In fact, I've killed them off my thistle seed sock before. So much for deterrence through avoiding millet.

And, of course, you can bait them with bread and millet, but you must be attentive and diligent. There's not point in just feeding them.

If you're shooting, you'll need to be very careful of your back stop, making sure you have an appropriately powered and accurate air rifle. Keep binoculars at hand as well. You'll need to make sure you can make a good ID.

The birds are known to carry parasites so it's best not to handle them.

It's hard to decide to eradicate the house sparrows in your territory, but the payback is almost immediate and very real. When the sparrows are gone or only exist in very small numbers, you'll see many more cavity nesters like chickadees, downey woodpeckers, bluebirds, and cliff swallows. Other, more shy birds will feel free to come into the feeders too. And, since you'll be glassing the yard looking for sparrows, you're going to see a lot of the new, more interesting visitors.

I copied the Halo plan and made one. Sparrows, so...

2009-08-22T21:23:45.623-04:00

I copied the Halo plan and made one. Sparrows, song and house, sit on top of it!!. Doesn't work!

I have a whole bunch of House Sparrows but I thoug...

2009-07-16T15:16:49.389-04:00

I have a whole bunch of House Sparrows but I thought they where cute, I had no idea how evil they where! It seem they take care of there babys in pairs and the female of the pair we have nesting out side our window I think is dead because I only see the male., there are four babys and im woundering do yyou think that the male will beable to take care of them by himself email me if you think you know Crazzycat_5@hotmail.com

hey i want to know if there are any attempts to st...

2009-05-07T16:25:00.000-04:00

hey i want to know if there are any attempts to stop the spread and growth of the european starling birds?plz and thnk u but watever becuz the time i found out it will be 2 late.:(

Hi! You should also try using Sparrow Free Magic H...

2009-04-20T18:25:00.000-04:00

Hi! You should also try using Sparrow Free Magic Halo from Bird-X. It blocks larger birds from swooping into your birdhouse from above. Smaller birds tend to enter from below, so they are unaffected. All you have to do is simply attach it to the top of the birdhouse.

I pretty much like any bird but was glad to get ri...

2009-04-12T13:51:00.000-04:00

I pretty much like any bird but was glad to get rid of the starlings out of my sofits. I saw why they have so few predators when my cat caught one and it screamed it's head off before we saved it. The house sparrows I solved by just not buying birdfood with millet.
:) Sheri