File :-(, x, )
Sparrows in my goddamn woodpecker box Anonymous !tQb4dKoPUA
Alright /an/, I've got a problem. How the fuck do I trap House Sparrows?

I put up a self-made woodpecker box on the front of my house last year, about 15-20 feet up a wooden pillar facing south, on the theory that it would keep the damn Downy woodpeckers from trying to make a home IN the pillar.

Birds moved in 2 weeks ago, and now that I've watched the house for a bit I find out its fucking House Sparrows. I'm in Michigan, you understand.

So how do I trap those House Sparrows, /an/? Anyone have any experience maintaining a cavity bird box? And what's the best (i.e. most humane) way to finish off the little fuckers once I've got them? Do I snap their necks?
>> Anonymous
here's a thought -

Why don't you go jump in a bear trap? What the hell did those birds ever do to you
>> Anonymous
>>232456
Drive out native species and be overpopulated.

In the United States and Canada, the House Sparrow is one of only three birds (the other two being the European Starling and the Rock Pigeon) not protected by law. As an invasive non-indigenous species, it is legal to kill House Sparrows and destroy their eggs at any time in most places in the United States. These three introduced species are now each more widespread and common on the continent than are any other birds. House Sparrows kill adult bluebirds and other native cavity nesters and their young, smash their eggs, and take over their nesting sites, and as such are major factors in the decline of bluebirds and other native cavity nesters in North America
>> Anonymous
lol, they should do the same for white americans
>> Anonymous !tQb4dKoPUA
Alright /an/, apparently I have to get the male, sometime between 10am and noon. Can I just climb up a ladder and block the entrance to the house? How spookish is the male sparrow?

I really don't want to got to rigging up elaborate interior traps when I've just got the one box I'm maintaining.
>> Anonymous
well, maybe if you go and politely tell them that it is a WOODPECKER box, and not a SPARROW box, they'd leave.
>> Anonymous
>>232692

I remember a friend of mine who used to catch sparrows live - what he would do is get a really powerful halogen light, creep up to where the sparrows sleep at night, turn the light on for 5 seconds then turn it off. The blinded and mentally stunned sparrow can easily be caught by hand.
>> Anonymous
>>232700
wouldn't it be easier to just skip the whole light thing and jsut catch them while they're asleep, if you can manage to sneak up to them and not wake them up?
>> Anonymous
>>232704

No, even though they're small, they can peck and claw like some fierce motherfuckers. After all, it's their lives at stake.
And remember, with the light thing, you don't have to be all that close when turning on the light at them.

Said friend also used to catch sparrows at daytime by putting out birdseed soaked in laboratory alcohol.
>> Anonymous
>>232695
>well, maybe if you go and politely tell them that it is a WOODPECKER box, and not a SPARROW box, they'd leave.

Nah, that doesn't work. Male sparrows are very territorial, and when they pick a nest site, they keep coming back to it. If another bird is there, they kill that bird and any eggs they find. If they find their nest and eggs gone, or feel they are under pressure, they go nuts and punitively destroy all other birds and nests in the area.

>>232704
>wouldn't it be easier to just skip the whole light thing and jsut catch them while they're asleep, if you can manage to sneak up to them and not wake them up?

You have to get the male, because he's the one that builds the nest and attacks other birds, and its usually the female that's on the nest at night. And like I said, if the male finds the nest gone in the morning, he often takes it out on more desirable birds, then builds another nest anyways.
>> Anonymous
In some places in the US, I believe it is actually illegal to provide nesting for house sparrows and/or leave bluebird/woodpecker boxes unattended - because usually sparrows take them over.

Sparrows: the gangsters of the bird world.
>> Anonymous !tQb4dKoPUA
>>232706
>Said friend also used to catch sparrows at daytime by putting out birdseed soaked in laboratory alcohol.

This sounds like a bad idea. How did your friend ensure he only got sparrows instead of other feeder birds?

I've got chickadees, crows, blue jays and cardinals I'd rather not poison/get drunk. Also robins, but I don't think robins go for seed?

So far the plan is to climb up a ladder and stuff the hole shut with the male inside. I fully expect to get pecked in the face when I'm halfway up that ladder.
>> Anonymous
>>232718

Used the smaller millet seeds and whatnot, thereby limiting the sparrows to be the only ones. However, you gotta understand this - we all live in Ausfailia. If you don't get the bloody sparrows, you get the mynahs (also feral) and the bloody pigeons (rats on wings). It was a win-win-win situation.
>> Anonymous
>>232718
Last spring I saw a couple of starlings raid and steal nesting material from a house sparrow nestbox in my backyard. Strangely enough, the starlings and later the house sparrows left the box and there were still 2 eggs inside. So maybe you just need to disturb them a whole lot and they'll finally just leave, if you don't want to kill them.
>> Anonymous
>>232727

leaving their eggs behind is an unusual case: most birds actually manage to somehow carry off the eggs too.
>> Anonymous !tQb4dKoPUA
>>232727
Wanting to kill them isn't the issue - or rather, knowing I have to kill him. They are a problem and driving them out is not only very hard and very risky, but even if it is successful, only relocates the problem.

The issue is getting my hands on the bird, and figuring out the easiest way to dispatch the little fucker. I've read of methods ranging from gassing via car exhaust (which sounds awful) to dashing his head against a wall or the ground (which is even worse if I only dent him).

I suppose I could just drop the birdhouse onto the lawn below with him inside, it would likely break his neck, but I'd also like to get a positive ID on him before doing it, make sure it isn't a native sparrow, and I also don't want to damage the box.
>> Anonymous !tQb4dKoPUA
     File :-(, x)
So /an/, I was observing the house this morning around 10 am in preparation for my strike, when, after I'd gone to fetch the ladder, I noticed the two sparrows had left the nest and were hopping around on the roof of my house, making a lot of noise.

I thought they were on to me, except after about a minute an European Starling flies out of the box and begins chasing the sparrows around the yard.

I take it the sparrows got a taste of their own medicine, and the starling got into their nest while they were away and destroyed their eggs.

Funny thing is the starling didn't then claim the box, the sparrows eventually came back, and have begun to rebuild the nest.
>> Anonymous
After reading this thread, I feel a lot less guilty about all those sparrows I used to shoot with my BB gun when I was a kid.
>> Anonymous
Convert the box to have a sturdy, unnoticeable trap door. Pull string to release trap door until you get the desired species.
>> Anonymous
Whatever you do, my dear tripfag anon, kill dem sumbitches gud.
>> Anonymous
Paste a picture of an angry cat mug in the inside of the box.