If you attached a guard around the opening of the box, the bluebirds & tree
swallows can get in but not the unwanted birds. It might be worth a try.
Barbara Powers


>From: "Lawrence, Miriam" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Vermont Birds <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [VTBIRD] house sparrow eviction questions
>Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 10:12:58 -0400
>
>While most of our nestboxes are, at the moment, happily inhabited by tree
>swallows and one bluebird nest (with 5 eggs as of this morning), I
>discovered this morning that one box contained a new house sparrow nest and
>two eggs (presumably laying was still ongoing).
>
>I am not of a mind to trap and kill either adult or baby sparrows (I know
>the ethical debate rages over this one) but I have no problem with other
>forms of both passive and active management, including spookers, nest
>removal, and rendering eggs infertile. In this case I removed the nest and
>the eggs, which are now in the refrigerator, but I have read that males
>bond
>with the box and will likely just keep on rebuilding there at a rapid clip.
>I can keep removing the nest material if that's the case. I've read that
>perhaps a better approach is rendering eggs infertile and leaving them in
>the nest so that the female will keep incubating them for a few weeks and
>get nowhere, and finally abandon the nest -- meanwhile she hasn't sought
>out
>a home elsewhere, and there's less chance the male will get aggressive as a
>result of the nest removal and go around mauling other birds (apparently
>some folks claim this can happen).
>
>My main concerns at this point is preventing the sparrows from making more
>sparrows, and making sure that the swallows and bluebirds using our other
>boxes dont' get injured or killed.  I'm willing to sacrifice one box to an
>infertile sparrow couple if that's the best route to accomplishing those
>primary goals.
>
>I'm wondering if anyone has experience with management methods other than
>trapping or killing, and if so, what you've found works the best.  Is it
>better to remove the nest altogether or to render eggs infertile and
>replace
>them in the nest?  Any other suggestions?
>
>By the way, we do not have any feeders out right now, nor do we have any
>barns or sheds on our property, so we're not doing anything to encourage
>the
>sparrows' general presence here.  That's probably why we don't have a huge
>problem -- yet. I'd like to keep it that way.
>
>Thanks for any suggestions.
>
>Miriam Lawrence
>Monkton