Using mono-filament fishing line to deter house sparrows by Joan Watroba editor of the Trails and Tales Newsletter of the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania. (click on download file below)
| monofilament_plan.pdf |
Do you have a method of detering House Sparrows from using your Nest Box? (share your ideas here)1/15/2014
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 click to enlarge photo House Sparrows are the most common problem blue-birder’s have. This invasive species introduce in the 1800’s has become the most abundant bird in North America. Do to the fact it bonds with the nest box and will defend it aggressively, we must find a way to deal with it. The house sparrow is not a protected bird, so you may dispose of it. The male house sparrow during the breeding season has only one thing on his mind: Procreation. Continuously destroying his nest, he becomes increasingly “frustrated”, aggressive, from my experiences, frequent house sparrow nest removal, without permanent removal of the house sparrows, is NOT a viable house sparrow control method. I was creating a “vindictive” and frustrated house sparrows. I now trap the house sparrow inside the nestbox and dispose of it. Once trapped, I place a large clear plastic bag over the entire nest box and tie the bottom closed and open the door to permit the house sparrow to fly into the clear plastic bag. I then make positive identification that it is infact a house sparrow. The most humane way to kill the house sparrow is cervical dislocation. For your safety dispose the bag and all. Reset the trap and do the same for the female. This procedure is not against the LAW, this bird is not protected and is classified as an non- protected invasive species. If you release the bird back into the wild it will only find another nest box or return to your nestbox again. One thing for certain, do not allow house sparrows to fledge from your nest boxes. That would be differemental to the cause of installing nest boxes in trying to help bluebirds and all the other native nest cavity species. I have found the Van-ERT Universal Sparrow trap works best. You can find it at the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania, thebsp.org online store.  click to enlarge photo A House Sparrow Attack on a Bluebird!
The House Sparrow will enter a nestbox and the first thing he will do is take the eyes out of the bluebird, then he beats on its head until the bluebird is dead. He's not done yet, he opens up the back of the bluebird and builds his nest on the carcass of the bluebird and raises his offspring's. The bird we call a house sparrow is not a sparrow at all, but an Old World Weaver Flinch from Europe and becomes very aggressive when nesting. |
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