Everything you said of the house sparrow behavior I've witnessed. They pecked to death 5 young in a tree swallow box. Another year they killed the young of our nesting bluebirds, dropping them outside the hole onto the ground. Every year they tormented native birds, but once I began controlling the population, things got a lot better. Once you can manage the population you really give native birds a chance.
Same. Lost many a bluebird tree swallow and chickadee. I learned how to trap sparrows in a ground trap and van ert box trap and am up to about 150 in a littlw over a year. Starting to make a difference. I also use a spooker now. If done at the right time it proven to prevent attacks
I'm very impressed. I hope people read this and learn. There is rarely one house sparrow causing trouble but many. The natives can't compete with hundreds. They need our help. You are a saint in my book!
Craig, Same here. The Male English Sparrow pecked the eyes out of my Baby Blue birds, killing all four chicks, maybe 3 days old, then started building their nest right over the dead chicks. Talk about a nasty invasive bird, English Sparrows take the prize.
I have my purple martin house zeroed from my kitchen window and can easily hit with my pellet gun any English Sparrow or Starling that tries to nest in the house.
Wow, I never knew any of this! I saw loads of them while growing up in NY (1960s-on) but never knew they were so aggressive and destructive. I just thought they were boring common birds.
I think lots of people think they are cute little birds. I guess they are cute when they aren't pecking the head open on a nesting bluebird. I've never witnessed that but have seen pictures. They even will bite people when you handle them. Tough birds.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I'm just completely shocked. I would always have assumed they were the ones at the bottom of the food chain and would be the ones getting bullied!
@@hibiscusfreak It is hard to believe as they are not very big birds. But they make it up in temperment. Plus they have a a relatively big head and a big beak they use as a weapon. Thanks for the comment. It's good to hear from viewers.
@@psychobratt House sparrows are not native to North America. They are not protected here. What you say is true in Europe where they are native. Thanks for watching.
I live in a place where studies on house sparrows show a decrease in numbers , in countries that house sparrows are native to. Their population here is being threatened by a new type of invasive species. Mynah birds have increase in number greatly. A few years ago I've rescued hey small house Sparrow . I was never able to release her. She was never able to fly. Her build is very strong! When she gets angry , the bite she gives it's quite strong. She lives a happy life with me and my family the past 4 years. Attacking fingers and being mischievous but very loving .
Recently we have acquired another type of bird that is also an agricultural nightmare in my country. Another type of invasive species. Green ring necked parrots. It's the little Grinch himself. Millions and damages around the country and no one has a heart to put them down. I work at a local zoo and the bird needed to be rehomed.
Just bought one of your traps. I've reached the end of my rope with them. For years, I put out bird seed for mourning doves and 20 wild bird species. This year, the sparrow have taken over. I never see any other wild birds, unless it's finches eating seed from our flower garden. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was seeing 30+ sparrows inside my enclosed chicken run the past week feasting on chicken feed in a gravity feeder that is 1' off the ground. The run is 80% hardware cloth, and they found the 20% where it's chicken wire, and they're entering there ALL DAY LONG. We have 3 bluebird nesting boxes in our yard for a decade now and in previous years a Carolina wren always nested there. But this year, we only had sparrows nesting. And they roost in this large semi-tropical Aucuba bush next to our house that is 9' tall. I've been chasing them out of the chicken run all week, but I'm done with it. Our organic chicken feed is very expensive and their population is increasing too rapidly, plus wild birds can spread disease to poultry when in confined spaces together. It wasn't until now that I've seen it's a flock of at least 40 of them! Can't wait for your trap to arrive.
I have eliminated 35 - 40 European house sparrows and have seen great improvement at my feeders being entertained by house finches, gold finches, downy woodpeckers, chickadees, and even a dark eyed junco.
Here in the Philippines we are lucky to have any birds as most have been hunted and eaten by the locals. Sparrows eat a lot of weed seed and bugs, they are smart and affectionate and are welcome here.
I live in Phoenix and my neighborhood is lively w bird sounds. Recently starting a garden and I’ve noticed both starlings and sparrows at my yard all day didn’t know they were the ones driving away the hummingbirds. They’ll be gone soon trust me
House sparrows in India are disappearing, because they are closely associated with humans, they are semi urban bird's. With increasing urbanisation and concretization of settlement, house sparrows have no place to nest. They are declining in their native habitat😔
@@BackyardBirdsUS in fact i find house sparrows in heavily built up environments where there are no other birds except maybe the pigeon variety. if house sparrow habitat is disappearing in india so is the habitat for other birds
I have personally watched house sparrows kill a whole bluebird brood and build a nest on top of them.. I began targeting them using a pellet gun and a trap. The only thing with the trap, was the chipmunks, mice and other native finches that kept finding their way in. The male house sparrow is really nasty, they are like the yellow jacket of the bird family. One year I took 50 house sparrows from my yard and had an excellent year with tree swallows mating twice in one nest box. Keeping the numbers down really helps native populations.
This is great news. I'm glad you are an active manager of your bird nest boxes. To many people just put up a bird house and let sparrows nest which in turn eliminates our native birds.
I controlled house sparrows in my home in Brazil, eliminating them with a slingshot when I was a kid. Then I moved to the neighboring streets doing the same and telling the folks not to feed them, since they are an invasive species. Before that there was only a couple of resilient native species besides the sparrows and their huge flock in my parent’s yard. Nowadays there are tens of different species of canaries, parrots, periqueets, native doves, and so on.
In my backyard, we have about 5 pecan trees that all the birds love. We have thrashers, mockingbirds, cardinals, chickadees, loggerhead shrikes, cedar waxwings, pileated woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, and I think even red-cockaded woodpeckers. We also see red-bellied woodpeckers, a small woodpecker with a lot of white and black coloration, house finches, butter butts, and chipping sparrows. Then we have grackles and starlings, which are my least favorite. Oh and blue birds and im pretty positive I saw some tree swallows. And im sure ill see some more in the summer and spring.
I live in Western Australia and originate from a Southern Africa, the absence of song birds and especially house sparrows sadden me, My garden sounds dead without them so I am saddened by the fact that they are trapped elsewhere, thank you though for a moment with them even if it is not real, and I do understand why it is done,
Surely there are native birds there. Maybe you need to improve your habitat with native Australian plants. It's the best way to encourage native wildlife.
Excellent video Jeff! I appreciate how well you explain everything so we can have a complete understanding of what you are doing and why. As usual, nice job on editing. Please say "hi" to Westen for me!
But in our indian sparrows are opposite they will didn't attack on any one nest yes other big birds like myna crow Raven or etc are attack on them but they didn't do any thing they are good in our country but theirs population are very low 😢😢😢 sparrows are my favorite birds
@@BackyardBirdsUSit's really bizare how they behave in America. I'm from Europe and out of all the birds that come to my garden to feed, sparrows are the most timid creatures. They grab few seeds and at any movement or strange sound they dive bomb in to the hedge. I think it's cause of the sparrow hawk. Their worst nightmare lol. In city centre tho they're quite bold and will land on the table when you drink coffee and beg for food. But in cities there are no big birds of prey. Maybe that's the problem why they are so bold in USA.
My brother has a pet house sparrow that he raised from a baby. The bird sleeps under a pile of rags for a bed and comes to my brother when he calls it. The bird will lay there on his shoulder and lick his face with its long skinny pink tongue. He shares his meals with the bird. It also picks up coins and leaves them all over the house. Whenever my brother isn't around it makes baby bird crying sounds. (When he goes into the bathroom, it waits for him on the floor, outside the bathroom door.) The bird's behavior makes me think of a rat or a puppy dog more than a bird.
I began trapping House Sparrows in the late spring of 2020 after watching them prevent Eastern Bluebirds from using a nest box I put in my yard. Since I began, I have trapped and dispatched over 340 of them as well as almost 40 Starlings. As a result of early success, I had a pair of Eastern Bluebirds during the summer of 2020, which raised two clutches successfully, and as of today (4/8/21), have a breeding pair of Tree Swallows.
You are amazing. That is incredible. I hope your comment informs people on their high populations and aggressive nature. You are making a difference. Thank you.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I am happy to say that as of today, Eastern Bluebirds have begun laying eggs in one of my two nest boxes while Tree Swallows are incubating a clutch in the other. Additionally, a neighbor has a nest box with baby Tree Swallows. In the meantime, the war against House Sparrows continues, although the casualty rate has declined significantly.
It is however, our fault for allowing this aggressive little fuckbird to get out of control and their numbers need to be brought back down to allow other native birds a chance at competing.
House sparrows can be very noisy and annoying at times, they could choose to come and have their argument near your window when you're trying to have an afternoon nap
Late last summer, a female bluebird laid her third clutch of nests in my nesting box. After a couple weeks of incubating, all of the sudden she wouldn't leave the nest. Every time I got close to the box and took a peek into the hole, she was on the nest and I didn't want to disturb her. After a few days, I my feared the worst and opened it up with her still inside... She was dead on the nest. I couldn't find any visible wounds, but I have to assume a house sparrow got one lucky peck in and killed her on the nest. I was pretty bummed out. This year I've started using Van Ert traps every time I see one messing with a box, I got one this morning.
I'm so sorry. That had to be devastating. She went to so much work and for naught. Glad you are being proactive. Future bluebirds thank you. I hope more learn from you.
The House Sparrow competes with the House Finch in my backyard. I use a sub 12ftlb pre-charged pneumatic air rifle to help control the House Sparrow population.
Europe is having the same problem with American Grey Squirrels that have infested our countryside and gardens and out competed our indigenous Red Squirrel to near extinction! but I wouldn't persecute them just for existing.
Those nasty House Sparrows have gone inside our bluebird nest box and pecked open multiple bluebird egg clutches. I bought a scoped .22 pellet rifle and have given almost all of the little SOBs a bad case of lead poisoning. Our bluebirds have now raised many successful broods!
These have been nesting in my box for years. I just figured they're some common local bird. Recently we have a pair of bluebirds in the neighborhood. Never seen those around here before. (California, Eastern SF Bay area)
The European starlings are much worse, I have to add. These starlings have grown their numbers to huge flocks now, from being rarely sighted 30 years ago.
This is a great and informative video, Jeff!!! SO VERY TRUE!!! Thank you for sharing this info for those that don't realize the damage that house sparrows can do to our native birds!!
Rebecca, You just made my day with this comment. I have been getting tons of hateful comments on Facebook and I think they didn't even watch the video. Ugh. I thought my video was pretty objective and just stating facts and my experiences.
Jeff, your video was spot-on!!! Try to ignore and bypass the hateful and negative comments. If those haters had ever experienced the heartache of seeing whole Bluebird families killed, then they'd have a different mindset on trying to protect our native birds. I was shocked and sickened last summer when I clearly watched a horrible act from a male house sparrow! I had just removed a sparrow's nest from out of one of my bluebird houses in my backyard and he must have been watching me! Within 5 minutes, I heard the worst commotion between the male sparrow and my bluebird female and male couple that had 5 eggs already in another bluebird box. Before I could get to the bluebird nest, the sparrow had run the parents out of the box and was pecking their eggs and dumping them out of the birdhouse onto the ground. The bluebird parents were hysterical! I was sickened when I saw he had destroyed EVERY egg!! To add anger on top of my heartache....when I returned to my back porch, he had flown over in retaliation and dropped the last destroyed bluebird egg onto my porch steps so I would see it!!!!!! I was so furious over that aggressive behavior from a male sparrow! I will definitely start trapping them and telling all my bird friends about how damaging they are to our native birds!!! All that being said..... PLEASE ignore the "hater comments" and just keep posting wonderful and informative videos like this one that you posted!!!! @@BackyardBirdsUS
@@rebeccaweaver5523 I really needed to hear that. As you can probably tell I am not trying to incite hate and have the birds well being in mind when creating those videos. As for your bluebirds. That must have been incredibly hard to experience. Nature can be ruthless but invasive species aren't nature. I would hate to experience what you did. And imagine how hard it is on the bluebirds to build a nest, lay eggs and then in seconds have it destroyed by an invasive aggressive house sparrow. So frustrating, but when you trap the sparrows and keep the bluebirds safe, you will know that they are successful because you stepped in to help them.
@@rebeccaweaver5523 I definitely will. THANK YOU SO MUCH. It is good to know that people are learning. I learn a lot from people who subscribe to my channel too!
Every time I place a bird house or bird feeder, House sparrows take them over and dominate the smaller native birds. I’m thinking about buying a trap because they overwhelm my backyard. My wife thinks I’m crazy but it’s so frustrating to have them hog all the bird seed and bully other native birds. I could trap them but I don’t know if I have the heart to kill them.
Id suggest you do start trapping as it really does make a difference. I mean a huge difference. There are many ways to euthanize them. You just figure out what is best for you. Facebook has some groups on house sparrows that can help.
Where in the world do you live? Maybe you are in their native range. If so you should help them nest. If you are in North America they are not protected.
Hi Jeff, We live in Kingman, Az. Next to our property is a huge arroyo. For the last year we have been nurturing our local quail population. We mostly feed them with black oil sunflower seeds. We made the mistake of throwing out some cracked corn. When we started doing that our quail population was close to sixty . Shortly thereafter the sparrow population grew quickly. We thought that they were so cute, but our quail population has diminished severely. We are not seeing any baby quail groups like last year. None. The sparrows appear to be over 100 by rapid count. I watched one of your sparrow education videos and for now we have put out no feed whatsoever for the last three days. So, now there are only a handful. Last year it was the pigeons which we have successfully trapped down to just a few. They too were overpowering the Gambel's quail. I hope it isn't too late to trap the sparrows here. That huge flock must be somewhere close by. Do you know anything about that ? Like how far away would they go when the feast disappears ? Do they scout the area frequently ? Your table idea makes great sense. Thanks a lot.
Very good question. I think they travel at least a few miles in search of food. Do you put out water for the quail. I would do that as well. Good luck. Trap those house sparrows.
We face house sparrows population decline to almost extinction in some areas of India. It is strange how they are vanishing from their native lands and have grown so much in number where they do not belong. I wish somehow they are sent here.
House sparrows are horrible little birds. They are aggressive and they go out of their way to kill other birds babies and destroy the eggs. Sparrows are plain nasty.
I have an English Sparrow that fell out of its nest. It's tail feathers don't grow in I called the state and they told me I could keep it in my house George is so sweet He will sit in my hand and chew my fingers Nails I love him so much I didn't think he wouldn't make it if I released him The game wardens got a kick out of the fact that I had tamed him I kid you not he so sweet ... I would love to have more. To have in here . I also have 4 cocatiels They copy how he sings to me.
I trapped many sparrows about 6 yrs ago....the native bird population rebounded. I had seen bluebird eggs in nestboxes I placed having holes poked in them. I now again see large number of sparrows at feeders so I guess I'll have to trap them again. I'm searching for best methods to trap them...
These birds are native to my country. I always saw them as innocent defenceless birds. Very informative video. We have Rose-ringed parakeet as invasive species here.
We have some native actual sparrows in Missouri that are very similar to those dang things, especially when they are not of breading age. I had Purple Martin houses and used to shoot the house sparrows all the time. The only way I could tell I was shooting the right bird was to see them show up as a pair and shoot the female. The male always found another female and would come back with her, not to say that I didn't take out several males also.
I maintain 3 tube feeders, 1 nyjer seed feeder, 2 suet cake feeders, a bird bath with bubbler, a box feeder, and one nest box. Each of them color coded to the range wheel on my Hawke scope that sits atop a HW30s in .177. Quiet and superbly accurate. I welcome all sparrows, the more the better, but they have a habit of dropping to the ground with holes in them around here. Maybe one day I’ll see my first ever blue bird or purple Martin take up residence. If/when that happens, I’m not worried about sparrows taking over the nest box since I’m certain they will all come down with a similar case of “hole-itis”.
Great video Jeff!!! Thanks for teaching me how to trap these invasive birds. We now have native birds able to nest in our natural cavities as well as nest boxes. Please keep spreading the word about helping our native birds by eliminating the invasive birds.
Ironically house sparrows are in massive decline here in England. Cities in the south of England have seen a decline of up to 90% in some cases and nobody is quite sure why.
I guess I've been lucky, since I've move to my home (1989) I have always had at least one breeding family of bluebirds raise a family here. I hear what you are saying about the house sparrow, and I believe you, but honestly, I just don't know if I could kill them. I will keep a lookout of them taking over one of my bluebird boxes, (which also have been the nest of chickadees) maybe I'll clean out their nest (house sparrow) or even block the birdhouse hole, until they get the message? but to kill them, I don't think so.
I agreed with you. At least in Palo alto I don't see them often. I heard their population has decreased. I wouldn't feel comfortable killing them either. My birds feeders host all source of birds and English sparrows are not the mayority. .
I live in a large apartment complex and house sparrows are probably the #1 bird i see. They complete with tits, robins, and chickadees where i am in Northern Virginia. the apartment complex eradicates them, but not in a humane way. i often see many dead baby birds on the sidewalk, and now i am helping them and finding them a captive home so they can live a life without suffering.
I live in downtown Chicago and i have one cardinal that hangs out at my house. There are 50 house sparrows that have taken over my bird feeder. Now that i have seen this video, I’m worried about the cardinals and native birds in my area.
Thanks for an informative and fair video. Reading the comments I knew you'd get some hate but looking at your replies it's obvious you harbor no hate for House Sparrows but merely want to undo some of what humans messed up. I have a few on my property, I'm not able to shoot them (too close to houses) and I can't bring myself to trapping and killing, however I did make all the holes in my nest boxes small enough to exclude them. No, I'll never get bluebirds or other larger birds but both carolina and house wrens have moved in and the house sparrows and starlings can't kill their young. I never realized how destructive they could be.
Thanks for the sincere comments. I always say if you don't want to trap them at least don't let breed and multiply. Good for you. And house wrens sure are fun to watch. They are so industrious.
@@BackyardBirdsUS Oh, they never stop catching bugs! I actually take photos of the birds too so they've been excellent subjects. Our biggest problem now are starlings coming onto my peanut feeder which the woodpeckers used to love (and still do if they get a chance). Not sure how to exclude starlings but still allow the larger woodpeckers access. I often wonder if trapping house sparrows or starlings would even put a dent in the population, I did that with squirrels once that were destroying my garden, I didn't kill them but i set them free across the river here away from homes. After relocating about 20 of them in a month period I realized that new ones would simply move in. I live in a suburb but a fairly dense area, houses sit on 1/8 to 1/4 acre lots here typically and we don't have much undeveloped land here in Central NJ. It seems these invasive birds thrive here, I know someone up the street has a purple martin house filled with house sparrows.
We love house sparrows and they are attacked by pigeons hawks and crows as well as cats. We are doing our best to protect the house sparrow in fact whole of India is doing so. Also the advancement in telephone and mobiles is harming their population. So if I were you I would provide them with a better ecology to survive.
The ecology of the modern world adapts to any potential dominant species and it's interaction with the human population. Of course, the decline in grain eaters is a tragic event, as is the lack of compassion and intelligence of self-proclaimed experts like yourself, probably educated by the books of Schofield publishing and it's subsidiaries. Your an imbecile, presumptuous, flag waving egotistical and a great example of the driving force behind the erosion of all virtue in anthropologic advancement. Why bother with humility, spirit, honesty and sacrifice when you get to know so much horseshit, fling it at the corners of your psyche to mark a mental territorial map akin to the madness of flat earthers from my perspective. You are subjected to this harsh comment because you lack the insight to judge to which mega level of domestication should be deemed acceptable, apparently from your distain for my character with no accountability and moreover no responsibility for any real information about the person who you are so superior to. Relax dillweed, the only way is up when you are too low for mosquito fecalith...
Actually they are mostly juveniles. Half are probably males that haven't gotten their colors yet. I just catch what i catch. I think it's good to have a mix of males and females though
Here on Long Island where I live most of the native cavity nesting birds are either extirpagated from the range or very rare. It sometimes so bad that you might not see any native species not just including birds, native plants are also often completely absent being replaced with invasive and non-native plants. It's pretty disappointing actually.
I hate these things so much because they keep killing the barn swallows where I work. I've taken out a couple dozen with my pellet gun but it barely seems like I've made a dent in their population
A combination of trapping and shooting will eventually work. But trapping is better, I believe, because success breeds success, where often shooting one with a BB guns spooks others around.
@@BackyardBirdsUS Yes, definitely, but according to the New York times, the population has fallen to just 25 millions from 500 million at the start of the 20th century. that's promising. www.researchgate.net/publication/317155136_The_House_Sparrow_in_North_America#:~:text=At%20its%20peak%2C%20the%20number,stages%20with%20periodic%20rapid%20decreases.&text=Today%2C%20the%20number%20of%20house,longer%20constitute%20a%20significant%20problem.
Backyard Birds just an update, I lost the war, my tree swallows are nowhere to be seen, all there is, are house sparrows nesting in the box, hope they are ok with scrambled eggs...
Backyard Birds I wonder if your sparrows do go extinct in your country, we could send some over, we don’t want them, and you really need them, just a thought. Also Im still trying to capture as many sparrows as I can, in hopes my area can maybe recover, I am just astounded by the number of them! They are never ending! It seems the sparrows,are likely here forever, but I will keep doing my best.
I am 75 now but growing up in the 1950s there were House Sparrows and Starlings in great numbers. Growing up I had no idea these were invasive birds. The sparrows lived in a space where our 2nd floor back porch met the house. There used to be apple trees in former pastures where starlings nested in holes where dead branches rotted out and who knows what carved out the cavities. In the 1970s and 80s efforts were made to encourage bluebird houses on people's properties. Volunteers monitored the houses put on public lands and where they set up bird houses on private property to prevent invasive birds from using them. All the old apple trees are gone now and today in my area (NW Ct), bluebirds are back, and I haven't seen a starling or house sparrow in years now. An aware public made the difference.
Thanks for the insight. I built a preventative structure from raccoons, squirrels and opossums but these house sparrows are so hard to keep away from destroying the bluebird eggs. It’s driving us crazy...thanks again for the tips
I have a problem with sparrows what kind of sparrow catcher should I make or buy I have noticed the last couple years I have a bird box sparrows run the bluebirds off or kill them it just tell me how to control them I would appreciate that what kind of bird box should I use to keep sparrows out and bluebirds in
But, the idea that house sparrows are causing widespread declines in native songbird populations today is not proved. In fact, house sparrow numbers have been declining across the United States over the last few decades while eastern and mountain bluebird numbers are up. And, bluebirds are as successful fledging young where they have sparrows as neighbors as where they do not.
You obviously don't host bluebirds or tree swallows. There's is plenty of information of them destroying bluebird nests and tree swallows among others. And purple Martin landlords will attest to their destructive ways.
I have a songbird trail of 20 boxes, and I was asked to monitor it because the sparrows had been killing the native birds. In the first summer since adopting this trail, fifteen sparrows were trapped an
And removed. This spring so far I have removed six sparrows. I have a friend who has over forty boxes in the same county. We have both adopted a zero tolerance for sparrows in nest boxes. This is the only responsible way to conduct a bluebird trail.
We used to have blue birds nest in a box in our yard...until the house sparrows killed the adults, hatchlings, and eggs. After two summers, the blue birds never returned.
That is EXACTLY what I experienced before trapping house sparrows. I'd suggest you get a nest box trap. This video explains how to trap them. ua-cam.com/video/AT6sQDvJMNo/v-deo.html
I'd also suggest putting up at least TWO nest boxes. One for the bluebirds and one to trap incoming house sparrows. And trust me, you won't get just one pair of house sparrows. They will keep coming.
BTW, once you trap House Sparrows or Starlings you can transfer them to a large clear container. Adapt the lid with a valve system and inject helium into it. The birds will NOT know the difference and simply think that it is time to go to sleep and soon your bird infestation problem is solved. I hear it works well for people.
Have a problem with seagulls around my house, but I have seen hundreds of sparrows couple hundred meters away. If I start feeding sparrows, is there a chance they'll drive away seagulls? :)
Today my wife and I saw a sparrow peck the eggs of a Robin just 8 feet from our kitchen window. I've seen dead tree swallows with their heads pecked open, watched sparrows take over two of their nest boxes. So far this spring I've trapped/euthanized 4 and shot 2 sparrows. Remember, native species have a right to their own habitat. We have a pair of nesting western bluebirds (I monitor them several times/day). If you can't/won't muster the fortitude to euthanize these invaders, get a friend to help.
I live in Pennsylvania, USA & just found your video b/c I replaced a baby bird yesterday that had fallen out of it's nesting box & was trying to figure out if it was a Wren or a Sparrow. Just now I was looking with binoculars & saw that mama's beak was strong & thicker, rather than longer & skinny, so I think it must be a Sparrow. I was so distressed to hear the content of this video the problems that non-native Sparrows are creating. I am kind of terrified to receive an answer to this question & am dreading your response, but when you talk about trapping the Sparrows to eliminate the problem, what do you then do with them? While I understand & appreciate what you have shared in this video, I am horrified at the thought of any animal being treated inhumanely. Is there a humane option for controlling this problem? Thank you
You humanely euthanize the bird. Look at the sialis web site. It has many methods. I know it may be hard to do at first but remember the damage they do. Also join the group on Facebook called house Sparrow control. People there will help and support you in your efforts.
If you have any of the good birds, do everything you can to rid your area of sparrows and starlings. Once the sparrows or starlings claim a cavity, they will fight to the death, usually win, then you will not ever see the desirable birds. If you feed a variety of song birds, use the black oil sunflower seeds only as the "bad" birds don't normally find those seeds to their liking.
Jacky, I can tell you speak from experience.The invaders are incredibly aggressive. I think it will be helpful for people to read your sensible educational experiences.
Jacky R Hinke I did not realize there were good and bad birds? I just loved the birds. The sparrows in my vicinity are very smart and call until I feed them. Have they been playing me this whole time?
@@joannenicholson4510 the English House Sparrow and Starlings are a non native species to the US. Both are a cavity nester. Both will destroy Purple Martin, Tree Swallow and Bluebird eggs, babies and adults. These two species are not allowed on my property.
pretty good, I am looking for information on what the ES are doing to native birds on the Oregon Coast. It can't be good. I need info. to persuade my neighbors who feed them.
I've never heard of Sparrows being so aggressive here in Europe, maybe they just pick up the bad habits in the land where they live. ( or maybe you just like killing birds).
No wonder I never see finches anymore. I had no idea! Thanks for this video! Is there a way to sterilize them? I don't want to kill anything, but they are the most numerous in my yard in central New Jersey. How do I trap them? Hmm, i gotta look that up!
As Jeff from Backyard Birds has shared in other videos, you can also clip their wings and let them go, which would prevent them from breeding for a period. That's definitely more helpful than nothing!
@@BrettVano that is a great thing you posted. I wonder if the lack of ability to breed might cause a breeding proliferation later. Nothing is perfect! I do have a hawk in my yard that seems to be good at catching them for dinner, though! Ah, nature! She has her own solutions!
Not only a house sparrow would kill a native songbird Blue Jays do the same exact same thing eventho blue Jays are native here in a America and protected but blue Jays are mostly vegaterian so we don't know how common this is. But I don't have a problem with birds it's just their dark nature is what I don't like and eating your seeds or other things
I've been using your trap, and have eliminated 8 so far. They are a nuisance eating chicken feed. I have had a few friends here and they think I'm mean killing them, so awkward to explain again and again.
Hello! just found this! I'm a budding nest box provider. This is very informative. I'm curious about how you euthanize the invasive birds? Great Job and thank you.
I'm making a movie about Eastern Bluebirds, and I mention in the narration that Bluebirds and House Sparrows vie for the same nesting boxes here in the U.S. Unfortunately, I don't have any footage of House Sparrows at those boxes. You do. Your shots are crips, close, and steady. Would you be interested in letting me use maybe ten seconds of your own footage to fill that gap in my video? I would credit you, of course, both in the movie itself and in the description below it. Here's a link to my channel in case you'd like to check out the quality of my work: @UC-Q-eORu_VVtkbmOgaSpH7A Let me add, by the way, that I like your reasonable tone in talking about the House Sparrows. I'm not one of those irate fist pounders about the species, but I will suggest some ways to keep them from appropriating bluebird houses.
Jeff, two more points: First, if it's okay with you, I'll also use a few seconds of your Van Ert trap footage and link to that video. I know many of my viewers will want to visit your website to learn more about that. Second, would you mind if I also took about 3-4 seconds of the female Bluebird with grasses in her mouth? That's another bit of footage I didn't get. I"m filming them at a house that's 45 minutes from where I live, so my footage for this movie is less complete than it would be for birds I can film in my own backyard.
Jeff, I suspect you didn't see the last comment I posted a few days ago asking to use a bit of the footage for trapping House Sparrows in a nest box. I"d like to recommend that video to viewers in my own movie. I also asked for permissiion to use 3-4 seconds of your shot showing a Bluebird taking grasses into the box because I thought I didn't have that. Later, I discovered that I did, in fact, have two shots of that--but neither is as good as yours. So I could go with mine--unless you'd like to see your shot in the movie. 😉 So anyway, if I don't hear back from you, I'll take out the footage showing you demonstrating the nest box trap. Either way, I'm glad to have the footage you did give me permission to use. Thanks again. Jo
Have had blue birds for two years. This is the first year I’ve seen sparrows. My bluebirds had their first clutch and fledged now sparrows are standing on the house. I was thinking maybe I could just take it down but they may come back next year I don’t know. I’ll look into trapping.
I am gaurding a bunch of blue jay nests and about 27 wood pecker nests from these house sparrows. I sit in the grass with my pellet gun and pick em off one by one all day to help out these beautiful birds that have active nests with ehhs in every single one on the tree line all nests are so makes it easy to shoot the house sparrows and a few other invasive burds that are fkying through back up north. And starlings they will throw native nest birds eggs out lay their eggs so native bird raises their young and eggs so they can spread faster they will attack purple Martin's and kill them. Where I live I can shoot them with pellet gun same woth the house sparrow. Nobosy in my area has shot emm and it's over ran here in my neighborhood we all live on a acre lot so now I'm trying to protect these beautiful natuve birds i finally got in my tree line I killed 76 yesterday and 22 today of just house sparrows we have tjousabds here so hopefully by summertime like june I'll have population knocked down enough to have breeding pair of blue jays Robbins and the wood peckers I got 12 downy wood pecker nests and rest are pileated woodpeckers that'nest wise for wood pecker. I got a bunch of native birds nests and im excited and protecting them 100 percent of time only problam is when I'm at work so hopefully I'll be able to save enough pairs to breed and make more next year abd have a bird santuary in my yard lol. My neughborhood has tons of huge 200 plus foot oak trees all over so t be house sparrows are everywhere old lady next dopr gwts mad aboit me killong them but I'm trying to explakn to her that hwr blue jays and everything else will go away if i dont kill them and we got deer and rabbits. The deer graze all day in the neighborhood and nobody cares to poch them either. And the funny thing is they know when it's hunting season because there be a lot more deer in the neighborhood than usual all the big bucks in the big toes will be up in the neighborhood it's kind of funny I'll have 10-15 12-point buck that people are after on the trail cameras near my front yard grazing during hunting season and then went hunting seasons over there go back out to the past year and in front of my friends trail camera
@@BackyardBirdsUS its crazzy nobody has eber thined them out in this sub division that has been here since 1979. Its like a subdivision that has thousands of 50 plus foot oak trees here and my three big oak trees are 250 years old and oldest is 320 yeara old. So all the trees and areas for them to nest and the woods line in my backyard it's a free for all. I'm starting to see less. I dont miss so maybe the ones that saw thier friends get killed and shot know not to come anywhere near here lol
I left that out on purpose. Your best bet is to search the internet. Sialis.org has good info. I'd also recommend joining the group "house sparrow control" on Facebook. Thanks.
How do you choose to dispose of them? I cant imagine it's humane at all which is unfair to the sparrows. The only humane was is euthanasia by injection and I know that's not happening.
Spot on, as usual, Jeff. I've got to start trapping. They are very aggressive at my birdfeeders. I will say this, I have at least half a dozen White-throated sparrows regularly at my feeders. They naturally feed on the ground. I was thrilled to watch these native sparrows drive the ground-feeding house sparrows away. Not often do I see a native bird push the invaders around.
Randy, WOW, I've not seen the white throated sparrows be aggressive toward the house sparrows. Maybe there is strength in numbers. Feeding on the ground is probably the BEST way to feed birds...but few people do that. I wonder why?
Ironically bluebirds can easily fend off sparrows on the OUTSIDE of the box. Problem is they can't maneuver as well to fight them inside the box. Some people used two holed "mansion" boxes that allow bluebirds to escape the box and take the fight outside.
👍🖐Jeff great info on this video. I have seen some house sparrows in years past and I usually see them around November or December but so far no sign of them. Although they could arrive anytime. I knew some of what you said but had no idea they could even kill or runoff a purple Martin wow that’s so crazy since the Martins are so much bigger. More people need to trap these birds like you did that’s for sure. Have a good weekend I will let you know if I do get some in Florida in my area.
Momma, Is it okay if I call you that? LOL. Your comment makes me FEEL GOOD about posting this video. I think it's very important for people to know about house sparrow competition. I was very upset when a male house sparrow destroyed the nest of my great crested flycatchers. They never renested. Imagine a bird migrating from central america to the US and having their nest destroyed by house sparrows. Very sad. I bet house sparrows do well in Florida but maybe they like temperate place better? Your thoughts?
Backyard Birds hi you can call me whatever you want some just say OM others say Momma it don’t matter to me Jeff. Here in Florida and where I live Atlantic Ocean side I double check with US Fish and Wildlife for Florida and they have actual stats for 10 yrs straight now and it is consider a stable number sparrows have been a problem where I live and in all of Florida. 1)very important Fact is they spread disease. At one point last year a bird disease was spreading in some parts of Florida and people were asked to take all feeders boxes platforms down and to be very careful. Luckily in my area I never did see or find a sick or dying bird from the disease. I kept only 1 feeder out and mostly did food on the ground. My Cardinalds and mockingbirds are precious so I defiantly did not want them getting sick from infected sparrows. Anyways I know the sparrows are here just right now all the cow birds that arrived for migration r taking over all the food. Soon I should be seeing the sparrows. You know Jeff I really think some people just put up feeders don’t clean them and they really don’t care as long as they can look at birds. It is a shame to take some steps but not follow through. Anyways I don’t provide housing other than the woodpeckers nest in my trees since my backyard is a food and water source also a place to perch a bit or to perch to fish. The Ospreys Eagles hawks and all my other big birds would just scare the backyard birds away. So I don’t encourage any of them to stay for nesting. Plus 1 yr a wren family got real aggressive after nesting in my hanging pot but the pot was in the entrance way to go down to the lake. After that year I don’t hang any pots up anymore. It was to stressful plus I have a German Shepard and a Samoyed dog. It was a nightmare. Ok I am writing a book. Even if 1 person watches your video that is 1 more person that might do the right thing. Nice talking to you Jeff. 🖐😃
@@OspreyMomma I just saw this comment. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know about spreading disease. I agree that dirty feeders and old moldy seed is not good for birds. Were your wrens aggressive toward the dogs? and you? I wonder if they were house wrens. I had one that pecked me every time I came near its nest. But nesting in a pot sounds like a Carolina wren. I've never heard of them being aggressive. Interesting. But I think individual birds have individual personalities. Your thoughts?
Backyard Birds hi your right Jeff they were Carolina wrens and I think I might have used wrong word but to me it was upsetting. They did not attack or hurt anyone but did fly at you and constantly kinda like they were going to come at you but of course they would fly away in different direction. They were very upset and I did not know if they had babies yet so I had to put up gates to block my dogs from getting to close. All was good then. But it appeared of course aggressive to me although I know I was a threat to them. If I knew that they did not have babies I would have defiantly moved the whole pot. Sorry I should have chose my words better. Emotional I felt they were being aggressive but scientifically they did no harm and was just trying to keep me away from babies. Lessened learned no hanging pots in Florida. My friend had real aggressive blue jay lay eggs in her plant hanging pot in back yard. But she too was able to just block off area. However the blue jays wouldn’t let any birds come around her backyard. And we call it dive bombing but the jays would dive bomb her dog if it was outside without a person. Crazy but in Florida a lot of my neighbors have birds that live to nest in our big hanging pots under the eves or gutters of our houses. It provides excellent hiding place since the plants stay green Healthy all year long and they get shade along with some coverage from the rain in the winter. Surprise you did not hear about the spread of bird disease it was all over us news but it was the 1 st I ever heard of it happening. Nice talking with you. I believe that same wren family are the wrens that visit me once early in morning and right before dark. They are the only 2 C Wrens I have seen. Love their beautiful morning singing. I really love to watch the male call out then female comes and he feeds her sometimes others he takes her to the feeder and he stands guard up above smart birds. Ok have a great weekend. Raining here but it’s better than snow. Take care
Everything you said of the house sparrow behavior I've witnessed. They pecked to death 5 young in a tree swallow box. Another year they killed the young of our nesting bluebirds, dropping them outside the hole onto the ground. Every year they tormented native birds, but once I began controlling the population, things got a lot better. Once you can manage the population you really give native birds a chance.
You said it. I'm sorry you had to witness them killing those birds. Thanks for the excellent comment.
Same. Lost many a bluebird tree swallow and chickadee. I learned how to trap sparrows in a ground trap and van ert box trap and am up to about 150 in a littlw over a year. Starting to make a difference. I also use a spooker now. If done at the right time it proven to prevent attacks
I'm very impressed. I hope people read this and learn. There is rarely one house sparrow causing trouble but many. The natives can't compete with hundreds. They need our help. You are a saint in my book!
Craig, Same here. The Male English Sparrow pecked the eyes out of my Baby Blue birds, killing all four chicks, maybe 3 days old, then started building their nest right over the dead chicks. Talk about a nasty invasive bird, English Sparrows take the prize.
I have my purple martin house zeroed from my kitchen window and can easily hit with my pellet gun any English Sparrow or Starling that tries to nest in the house.
Shooting is a wonderful option because some birds are so difficult to trap. I applaud your work!
PCP removal is the best all around option available
@@airpowered2235 yea I have a suppressed pcp air rifle in 22 cal with about 30 foot pounds of energy and I nail them stupid starlings
Hate to brag, but I put a round into a Conley slot in my colony and dispatched a HOSP. I have a scope for the housing and mil dot for my feeders.
Wow, I never knew any of this! I saw loads of them while growing up in NY (1960s-on) but never knew they were so aggressive and destructive. I just thought they were boring common birds.
I think lots of people think they are cute little birds. I guess they are cute when they aren't pecking the head open on a nesting bluebird. I've never witnessed that but have seen pictures. They even will bite people when you handle them. Tough birds.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I'm just completely shocked. I would always have assumed they were the ones at the bottom of the food chain and would be the ones getting bullied!
@@hibiscusfreak It is hard to believe as they are not very big birds. But they make it up in temperment. Plus they have a a relatively big head and a big beak they use as a weapon. Thanks for the comment. It's good to hear from viewers.
@@BackyardBirdsUS You're welcome!
@@psychobratt House sparrows are not native to North America. They are not protected here. What you say is true in Europe where they are native. Thanks for watching.
I live in a place where studies on house sparrows show a decrease in numbers , in countries that house sparrows are native to. Their population here is being threatened by a new type of invasive species. Mynah birds have increase in number greatly.
A few years ago I've rescued hey small house Sparrow . I was never able to release her. She was never able to fly. Her build is very strong! When she gets angry , the bite she gives it's quite strong. She lives a happy life with me and my family the past 4 years. Attacking fingers and being mischievous but very loving .
What a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing. And I'm a huge proponent of helping them in their native land where they are part of the local ecosystem.
Ironically the modern houses are the reasons why their number is declining, because they aren't able to build nests at them.
Recently we have acquired another type of bird that is also an agricultural nightmare in my country. Another type of invasive species. Green ring necked parrots. It's the little Grinch himself. Millions and damages around the country and no one has a heart to put them down. I work at a local zoo and the bird needed to be rehomed.
Unfortunately they adapt well to Martin houses. I've seen plenty full of sparrows.
Just bought one of your traps. I've reached the end of my rope with them. For years, I put out bird seed for mourning doves and 20 wild bird species. This year, the sparrow have taken over. I never see any other wild birds, unless it's finches eating seed from our flower garden. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was seeing 30+ sparrows inside my enclosed chicken run the past week feasting on chicken feed in a gravity feeder that is 1' off the ground. The run is 80% hardware cloth, and they found the 20% where it's chicken wire, and they're entering there ALL DAY LONG. We have 3 bluebird nesting boxes in our yard for a decade now and in previous years a Carolina wren always nested there. But this year, we only had sparrows nesting. And they roost in this large semi-tropical Aucuba bush next to our house that is 9' tall. I've been chasing them out of the chicken run all week, but I'm done with it. Our organic chicken feed is very expensive and their population is increasing too rapidly, plus wild birds can spread disease to poultry when in confined spaces together. It wasn't until now that I've seen it's a flock of at least 40 of them! Can't wait for your trap to arrive.
I have eliminated 35 - 40 European house sparrows and have seen great improvement at my feeders being entertained by house finches, gold finches, downy woodpeckers, chickadees, and even a dark eyed junco.
Here in the Philippines we are lucky to have any birds as most have been hunted and eaten by the locals.
Sparrows eat a lot of weed seed and bugs, they are smart and affectionate and are welcome here.
Are they house sparrow or something else
I live in Phoenix and my neighborhood is lively w bird sounds. Recently starting a garden and I’ve noticed both starlings and sparrows at my yard all day didn’t know they were the ones driving away the hummingbirds. They’ll be gone soon trust me
Good for you. They are smart so you have to be vigilant.
House sparrows in India are disappearing, because they are closely associated with humans, they are semi urban bird's. With increasing urbanisation and concretization of settlement, house sparrows have no place to nest. They are declining in their native habitat😔
Hard to believe. They tend to flourish in man made habitats.
@@BackyardBirdsUS in fact i find house sparrows in heavily built up environments where there are no other birds except maybe the pigeon variety. if house sparrow habitat is disappearing in india so is the habitat for other birds
I have personally watched house sparrows kill a whole bluebird brood and build a nest on top of them.. I began targeting them using a pellet gun and a trap. The only thing with the trap, was the chipmunks, mice and other native finches that kept finding their way in. The male house sparrow is really nasty, they are like the yellow jacket of the bird family. One year I took 50 house sparrows from my yard and had an excellent year with tree swallows mating twice in one nest box. Keeping the numbers down really helps native populations.
This is great news. I'm glad you are an active manager of your bird nest boxes. To many people just put up a bird house and let sparrows nest which in turn eliminates our native birds.
God's work
We had no idea. We are losing finches, and now bluejays are coming around but we thought they were the bullies. Will watch closer. Thanks!
House sparrows look so small and harmless but they are aggressive killers of nesting birds.
I controlled house sparrows in my home in Brazil, eliminating them with a slingshot when I was a kid. Then I moved to the neighboring streets doing the same and telling the folks not to feed them, since they are an invasive species. Before that there was only a couple of resilient native species besides the sparrows and their huge flock in my parent’s yard. Nowadays there are tens of different species of canaries, parrots, periqueets, native doves, and so on.
I'm so glad you wrote. I know nothing about bird life in Brazil. Fascinating
In my backyard, we have about 5 pecan trees that all the birds love. We have thrashers, mockingbirds, cardinals, chickadees, loggerhead shrikes, cedar waxwings, pileated woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, and I think even red-cockaded woodpeckers. We also see red-bellied woodpeckers, a small woodpecker with a lot of white and black coloration, house finches, butter butts, and chipping sparrows. Then we have grackles and starlings, which are my least favorite. Oh and blue birds and im pretty positive I saw some tree swallows. And im sure ill see some more in the summer and spring.
I live in Western Australia and originate from a Southern Africa, the absence of song birds and especially house sparrows sadden me, My garden sounds dead without them so I am saddened by the fact that they are trapped elsewhere, thank you though for a moment with them even if it is not real, and I do understand why it is done,
Surely there are native birds there. Maybe you need to improve your habitat with native Australian plants. It's the best way to encourage native wildlife.
Excellent video Jeff! I appreciate how well you explain everything so we can have a complete understanding of what you are doing and why. As usual, nice job on editing. Please say "hi" to Westen for me!
Thanks Bart. Again you make my day! Weston and I are planning to make a video. Probably over Xmas.
@@BackyardBirdsUS Sweet, I will be looking forward to it!!!
But in our indian sparrows are opposite they will didn't attack on any one nest yes other big birds like myna crow Raven or etc are attack on them but they didn't do any thing they are good in our country but theirs population are very low 😢😢😢 sparrows are my favorite birds
Must be a different species.
@@BackyardBirdsUSit's really bizare how they behave in America. I'm from Europe and out of all the birds that come to my garden to feed, sparrows are the most timid creatures. They grab few seeds and at any movement or strange sound they dive bomb in to the hedge. I think it's cause of the sparrow hawk. Their worst nightmare lol. In city centre tho they're quite bold and will land on the table when you drink coffee and beg for food. But in cities there are no big birds of prey. Maybe that's the problem why they are so bold in USA.
They loom small and cute but deadly to other birds wow
You said it. They look harmless but are death to many nesting native birds.
My brother has a pet house sparrow that he raised from a baby. The bird sleeps under a pile of rags for a bed and comes to my brother when he calls it. The bird will lay there on his shoulder and lick his face with its long skinny pink tongue. He shares his meals with the bird. It also picks up coins and leaves them all over the house. Whenever my brother isn't around it makes baby bird crying sounds. (When he goes into the bathroom, it waits for him on the floor, outside the bathroom door.) The bird's behavior makes me think of a rat or a puppy dog more than a bird.
That's is the most amazing story. First he have video of this bird. I'd love to see that.
Hahaha. He should put it on youtube
@@uhill74 I might do that sometime. 👍
Absolutely fascinating !
But no one in their right mind cares about this, genius.
I began trapping House Sparrows in the late spring of 2020 after watching them prevent Eastern Bluebirds from using a nest box I put in my yard. Since I began, I have trapped and dispatched over 340 of them as well as almost 40 Starlings. As a result of early success, I had a pair of Eastern Bluebirds during the summer of 2020, which raised two clutches successfully, and as of today (4/8/21), have a breeding pair of Tree Swallows.
You are amazing. That is incredible. I hope your comment informs people on their high populations and aggressive nature. You are making a difference. Thank you.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I am happy to say that as of today, Eastern Bluebirds have begun laying eggs in one of my two nest boxes while Tree Swallows are incubating a clutch in the other. Additionally, a neighbor has a nest box with baby Tree Swallows. In the meantime, the war against House Sparrows continues, although the casualty rate has declined significantly.
340! Wow that is amazing!
@@Rachel-vz6gw The count is now closer to 370 and I have a second Tree Swallow nest in my yard while the Bluebird young are about to fledge.
@@douglaszylstra6942 Wow! I caught around 40 since March and I thought I had a lot!
I love my house sparrows and this video is a horrible video on how to hurt living creatures it's not there fault we brought them here.
It's not their fault but they are a problem.
It is however, our fault for allowing this aggressive little fuckbird to get out of control and their numbers need to be brought back down to allow other native birds a chance at competing.
Exactly. Well stated!
That's why we're not torturing and punishing them, but humanely eliminating them.
Kill the terrors
House sparrows can be very noisy and annoying at times, they could choose to come and have their argument near your window when you're trying to have an afternoon nap
I think there are just so many of them. It's not a pretty call that's for sure.
I see tons of people raising these invasive birds im like oh come on man
Late last summer, a female bluebird laid her third clutch of nests in my nesting box. After a couple weeks of incubating, all of the sudden she wouldn't leave the nest. Every time I got close to the box and took a peek into the hole, she was on the nest and I didn't want to disturb her. After a few days, I my feared the worst and opened it up with her still inside... She was dead on the nest. I couldn't find any visible wounds, but I have to assume a house sparrow got one lucky peck in and killed her on the nest. I was pretty bummed out. This year I've started using Van Ert traps every time I see one messing with a box, I got one this morning.
I'm so sorry. That had to be devastating. She went to so much work and for naught. Glad you are being proactive. Future bluebirds thank you. I hope more learn from you.
The House Sparrow competes with the House Finch in my backyard. I use a sub 12ftlb pre-charged pneumatic air rifle to help control the House Sparrow population.
Good for you. We need more people like you!
Europe is having the same problem with American Grey Squirrels that have infested our countryside and gardens and out competed our indigenous Red Squirrel to near extinction! but I wouldn't persecute them just for existing.
It's not persecution. Want to make sure the native birds can be successful in nesting.
Those nasty House Sparrows have gone inside our bluebird nest box and pecked open multiple bluebird egg clutches.
I bought a scoped .22 pellet rifle and have given almost all of the little SOBs a bad case of lead poisoning.
Our bluebirds have now raised many successful broods!
Very good news that you are not ignoring the problem.
Do House Sparrows live in the Colorado Rockies (around 8000 feet elevation)? I have not seen any so far.
I really don't know. But where there are people there are usually house sparrows.
These have been nesting in my box for years. I just figured they're some common local bird. Recently we have a pair of bluebirds in the neighborhood. Never seen those around here before. (California, Eastern SF Bay area)
I bet you have the Western bluebird. I hope you can provide safe nesting for them.
They are good air gun targets
Well said. But you have to be an excellent aim.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I’ve lost count on how many I’ve popped 😆
The European starlings are much worse, I have to add. These starlings have grown their numbers to huge flocks now, from being rarely sighted 30 years ago.
I agree 100 percent. Huge flocks of starlings are a menace.
I remove massive numbers of these every year. I only focus on these Sparrows and European Starlings.
So happy to hear this. Great that others are helping our native birds.
I trap them too. Put the dry mealworms in the sparrow trap. You will catch a ton
This is a great and informative video, Jeff!!! SO VERY TRUE!!! Thank you for sharing this info for those that don't realize the damage that house sparrows can do to our native birds!!
Rebecca, You just made my day with this comment. I have been getting tons of hateful comments on Facebook and I think they didn't even watch the video. Ugh. I thought my video was pretty objective and just stating facts and my experiences.
Jeff, your video was spot-on!!! Try to ignore and bypass the hateful and negative comments. If those haters had ever experienced the heartache of seeing whole Bluebird families killed, then they'd have a different mindset on trying to protect our native birds. I was shocked and sickened last summer when I clearly watched a horrible act from a male house sparrow! I had just removed a sparrow's nest from out of one of my bluebird houses in my backyard and he must have been watching me! Within 5 minutes, I heard the worst commotion between the male sparrow and my bluebird female and male couple that had 5 eggs already in another bluebird box. Before I could get to the bluebird nest, the sparrow had run the parents out of the box and was pecking their eggs and dumping them out of the birdhouse onto the ground. The bluebird parents were hysterical! I was sickened when I saw he had destroyed EVERY egg!! To add anger on top of my heartache....when I returned to my back porch, he had flown over in retaliation and dropped the last destroyed bluebird egg onto my porch steps so I would see it!!!!!! I was so furious over that aggressive behavior from a male sparrow! I will definitely start trapping them and telling all my bird friends about how damaging they are to our native birds!!! All that being said..... PLEASE ignore the "hater comments" and just keep posting wonderful and informative videos like this one that you posted!!!! @@BackyardBirdsUS
@@rebeccaweaver5523 I really needed to hear that. As you can probably tell I am not trying to incite hate and have the birds well being in mind when creating those videos. As for your bluebirds. That must have been incredibly hard to experience. Nature can be ruthless but invasive species aren't nature. I would hate to experience what you did. And imagine how hard it is on the bluebirds to build a nest, lay eggs and then in seconds have it destroyed by an invasive aggressive house sparrow. So frustrating, but when you trap the sparrows and keep the bluebirds safe, you will know that they are successful because you stepped in to help them.
You're exactly right, Jeff!!! Keep videoing and keep teaching!! I always learn something from your videos! @@BackyardBirdsUS
@@rebeccaweaver5523 I definitely will. THANK YOU SO MUCH. It is good to know that people are learning. I learn a lot from people who subscribe to my channel too!
Every time I place a bird house or bird feeder, House sparrows take them over and dominate the smaller native birds. I’m thinking about buying a trap because they overwhelm my backyard. My wife thinks I’m crazy but it’s so frustrating to have them hog all the bird seed and bully other native birds. I could trap them but I don’t know if I have the heart to kill them.
Id suggest you do start trapping as it really does make a difference. I mean a huge difference. There are many ways to euthanize them. You just figure out what is best for you. Facebook has some groups on house sparrows that can help.
i just built a house for the sparrows outside my window without checking about native birds.. i will check now thanks
Where in the world do you live? Maybe you are in their native range. If so you should help them nest. If you are in North America they are not protected.
@@BackyardBirdsUS i live in israel
@@ИванИванов-ю6э9р I would guess they are considered native in Israel. Definitely not native in North and South America.
Hi Jeff, We live in Kingman, Az. Next to our property is a huge arroyo. For the last year we have been nurturing our local quail population. We mostly feed them with black oil sunflower seeds. We made the mistake of throwing out some cracked corn. When we started doing that our quail population was close to sixty . Shortly thereafter the sparrow population grew quickly. We thought that they were so cute, but our quail population has diminished severely. We are not seeing any baby quail groups like last year. None.
The sparrows appear to be over 100 by rapid count. I watched one of your sparrow education videos and for now we have put out no feed whatsoever for the last three days. So, now there are only a handful. Last year it was the pigeons which we have successfully trapped down to just a few. They too were overpowering the Gambel's quail. I hope it isn't too late to trap the sparrows here. That huge flock must be somewhere close by. Do you know anything about that ? Like how far away would they go when the feast disappears ? Do they scout the area frequently ? Your table idea makes great sense. Thanks a lot.
Very good question. I think they travel at least a few miles in search of food. Do you put out water for the quail. I would do that as well. Good luck. Trap those house sparrows.
We face house sparrows population decline to almost extinction in some areas of India. It is strange how they are vanishing from their native lands and have grown so much in number where they do not belong. I wish somehow they are sent here.
Mostly they need a place to nest and food. I hope you do both for them where they are native.
They are so beautiful, i helped one to survive and he was my pet. He was extremely smart.
Wish we could figure that out
House sparrows are horrible little birds. They are aggressive and they go out of their way to kill other birds babies and destroy the eggs. Sparrows are plain nasty.
Thank you. I have to agree. Aggressive birds in their non native land.
I have an English Sparrow that fell out of its nest.
It's tail feathers don't grow in
I called the state and they told me I could keep it in my house
George is so sweet
He will sit in my hand and chew my fingers
Nails
I love him so much
I didn't think he wouldn't make it if I released him
The game wardens got a kick out of the fact that I had tamed him
I kid you not he so sweet ...
I would love to have more. To have in here . I also have 4 cocatiels
They copy how he sings to me.
That's a great story. I have heard they make good pets.
I trapped many sparrows about 6 yrs ago....the native bird population rebounded. I had seen bluebird eggs in nestboxes I placed having holes poked in them.
I now again see large number of sparrows at feeders so I guess I'll have to trap them again. I'm searching for best methods to trap them...
Van ert trap for the box. Repeatimg Ground trap with bread and crackers for the bulk
The van ert works so well. Good luck
These birds are native to my country. I always saw them as innocent defenceless birds. Very informative video. We have Rose-ringed parakeet as invasive species here.
Thanks for the reply. Good to hear from places they are native.
Oh my he have a. Bunch of them and we have a blue jay and some how the birds didn’t evict em but oh my iv been feeding this birds for 3 years
You are not alone. So many people are unaware of the house sparrow problem.
i have seen them gang up on starlings and fight them off (in morocco) hhh they are tough
That's really interesting. thanks for sharing.
after trapping, where do you release
They aren't released. That would just move the problem.
We have some native actual sparrows in Missouri that are very similar to those dang things, especially when they are not of breading age. I had Purple Martin houses and used to shoot the house sparrows all the time. The only way I could tell I was shooting the right bird was to see them show up as a pair and shoot the female. The male always found another female and would come back with her, not to say that I didn't take out several males also.
Glad you were getting them. If they are at a nesting place looking to nest they can't be native sparrows. They all nest elsewhere.
In Great Britain they are declining and we are doing what we can to conserve them!
I'm glad you are. People need to be aware of their native wildlife. Kudos to you.
I Love birds. I don't like these birds.
Thank you.
I never see House Sparrows in the country. Almost exclusively in the city. They go where large groups of humans go.
Yes. But I'm in the country and have tons. They go where they find food.
I maintain 3 tube feeders, 1 nyjer seed feeder, 2 suet cake feeders, a bird bath with bubbler, a box feeder, and one nest box. Each of them color coded to the range wheel on my Hawke scope that sits atop a HW30s in .177. Quiet and superbly accurate. I welcome all sparrows, the more the better, but they have a habit of dropping to the ground with holes in them around here. Maybe one day I’ll see my first ever blue bird or purple Martin take up residence. If/when that happens, I’m not worried about sparrows taking over the nest box since I’m certain they will all come down with a similar case of “hole-itis”.
Good for you. You definitely have a system that works for you. Have you ever missed?
Great video Jeff!!! Thanks for teaching me how to trap these invasive birds. We now have native birds able to nest in our natural cavities as well as nest boxes. Please keep spreading the word about helping our native birds by eliminating the invasive birds.
Thank you. What kind of birds nest in your nest boxes?
I feed dozens of House Sparrows every day. Aug, 21.
Why?
Ironically house sparrows are in massive decline here in England. Cities in the south of England have seen a decline of up to 90% in some cases and nobody is quite sure why.
Thanks for sharing. They are protected in their native land. Not so where they aren't native.
yeah i miss the sparrows in england they were everywhere when i was a kid living in Birmingham after the 9ts i aint seen any such a shame
Do you put up nesting structures for them? You should.
someone should create a program where we trap House Sparrows here and release them in the UK.
Sadly they would perish. They need nesting places, habitat and food. But i think people in England are providing for them.
What do you do to eliminate them after you trap them?
They are humanely euthanized.
Imagine if like human beings were too many on earth.............. wait a minute LOL
Laundry mesh bag....swift quick swing to a hard surface
Thats the circle of life i feed all birds . I dont kill birds
Sorry to hear it. So you let the invasive birds kill our native birds. That's no circle of life. That's death to the native birds.
Pshhhh they are welcome to my house. I wouldn’t be cruel with them
I'm sorry for the birds they will destroy.
I guess I've been lucky, since I've move to my home (1989) I have always had at least one breeding family of bluebirds raise a family here. I hear what you are saying about the house sparrow, and I believe you, but honestly, I just don't know if I could kill them. I will keep a lookout of them taking over one of my bluebird boxes, (which also have been the nest of chickadees) maybe I'll clean out their nest (house sparrow) or even block the birdhouse hole, until they get the message? but to kill them, I don't think so.
You are so lucky to have bluebirds and chickadees nest. What a treat. Do watch for the house sparrow. They are super aggressive.
What about the native birds that the house sparrows kill?
I also agree, don't have a heart to kill a sparrow, one of God's creations.
I agreed with you. At least in Palo alto I don't see them often. I heard their population has decreased. I wouldn't feel comfortable killing them either. My birds feeders host all source of birds and English sparrows are not the mayority. .
@@BackyardBirdsUS English sparrows came here because we humans brought them
House sparrows of India country are very funny and play full with us they are very helpfull in indian nature
Are you sure they are house sparrows and not another species.
@@BackyardBirdsUS yes they are house sparrows
@@BackyardBirdsUS if you will see indian sparrows then you also say they are so funny and they are didn't destructive any kind of birds
I live in a large apartment complex and house sparrows are probably the #1 bird i see. They complete with tits, robins, and chickadees where i am in Northern Virginia. the apartment complex eradicates them, but not in a humane way. i often see many dead baby birds on the sidewalk, and now i am helping them and finding them a captive home so they can live a life without suffering.
I live in downtown Chicago and i have one cardinal that hangs out at my house. There are 50 house sparrows that have taken over my bird feeder. Now that i have seen this video, I’m worried about the cardinals and native birds in my area.
House sparrows are overly aggressive. So you feed the birds?
@@BackyardBirdsUS I have bird feeders for the wild birds. I didn't know this about house sparrows till I saw this video.
They are awful. And they are very intelligent. But you can at least deter them.
They are so aggressive too. It's frustrating.
Thanks for an informative and fair video. Reading the comments I knew you'd get some hate but looking at your replies it's obvious you harbor no hate for House Sparrows but merely want to undo some of what humans messed up. I have a few on my property, I'm not able to shoot them (too close to houses) and I can't bring myself to trapping and killing, however I did make all the holes in my nest boxes small enough to exclude them. No, I'll never get bluebirds or other larger birds but both carolina and house wrens have moved in and the house sparrows and starlings can't kill their young. I never realized how destructive they could be.
Thanks for the sincere comments. I always say if you don't want to trap them at least don't let breed and multiply. Good for you. And house wrens sure are fun to watch. They are so industrious.
@@BackyardBirdsUS Oh, they never stop catching bugs! I actually take photos of the birds too so they've been excellent subjects. Our biggest problem now are starlings coming onto my peanut feeder which the woodpeckers used to love (and still do if they get a chance). Not sure how to exclude starlings but still allow the larger woodpeckers access. I often wonder if trapping house sparrows or starlings would even put a dent in the population, I did that with squirrels once that were destroying my garden, I didn't kill them but i set them free across the river here away from homes. After relocating about 20 of them in a month period I realized that new ones would simply move in. I live in a suburb but a fairly dense area, houses sit on 1/8 to 1/4 acre lots here typically and we don't have much undeveloped land here in Central NJ. It seems these invasive birds thrive here, I know someone up the street has a purple martin house filled with house sparrows.
We love house sparrows and they are attacked by pigeons hawks and crows as well as cats. We are doing our best to protect the house sparrow in fact whole of India is doing so. Also the advancement in telephone and mobiles is harming their population. So if I were you I would provide them with a better ecology to survive.
What an incredibly stupid comment.
Are you sure they are house sparrows?
@@BackyardBirdsUSyes
You make me laugh at least you know they're invasive.
The ecology of the modern world adapts to any potential dominant species and it's interaction with the human population. Of course, the decline in grain eaters is a tragic event, as is the lack of compassion and intelligence of self-proclaimed experts like yourself, probably educated by the books of Schofield publishing and it's subsidiaries. Your an imbecile, presumptuous, flag waving egotistical and a great example of the driving force behind the erosion of all virtue in anthropologic advancement. Why bother with humility, spirit, honesty and sacrifice when you get to know so much horseshit, fling it at the corners of your psyche to mark a mental territorial map akin to the madness of flat earthers from my perspective. You are subjected to this harsh comment because you lack the insight to judge to which mega level of domestication should be deemed acceptable, apparently from your distain for my character with no accountability and moreover no responsibility for any real information about the person who you are so superior to. Relax dillweed, the only way is up when you are too low for mosquito fecalith...
Jeff,,, I noticed that most of the birds on this vid in the cage were female house sparrows. Is that on purpose.
Actually they are mostly juveniles. Half are probably males that haven't gotten their colors yet. I just catch what i catch. I think it's good to have a mix of males and females though
I live in northern California id like to help trap the house sparrow.
Welcome to the world of trapping house sparrows. There is a Facebook group called "house Sparrow control". Lots of good ideas in there.
Here on Long Island where I live most of the native cavity nesting birds are either extirpagated from the range or very rare. It sometimes so bad that you might not see any native species not just including birds, native plants are also often completely absent being replaced with invasive and non-native plants. It's pretty disappointing actually.
That sounds really depressing. Sadly i think that is happening everywhere. The average person hasn't a clue about invasive species.
I hate these things so much because they keep killing the barn swallows where I work. I've taken out a couple dozen with my pellet gun but it barely seems like I've made a dent in their population
Keep up the work. You will finally get them under control. Once their numbers are reduced they are much less of a problem.
A combination of trapping and shooting will eventually work. But trapping is better, I believe, because success breeds success, where often shooting one with a BB guns spooks others around.
it's a bird not the devil, calm down y'all
If you are trying to help out native cavity nesting birds you will see just how bad they are. I'm glad people care.
@@BackyardBirdsUS yeah I know they're bad but they're still creatures
@@mangohallucinates
Creatures can be evil.
Little devils
They originated in the Middle east and their population is declining in North America.
Still a problem in North America.
@@BackyardBirdsUS Yes, definitely, but according to the New York times, the population has fallen to just 25 millions from 500 million at the start of the 20th century. that's promising.
www.researchgate.net/publication/317155136_The_House_Sparrow_in_North_America#:~:text=At%20its%20peak%2C%20the%20number,stages%20with%20periodic%20rapid%20decreases.&text=Today%2C%20the%20number%20of%20house,longer%20constitute%20a%20significant%20problem.
That's amazing but 25 million can do a lot of damage!
Im watching this while waiting for a gang of them to come back, they attacked my tree swallows today, I am declaring war on them.
They truly are awful when they are nesting. Trees swallows are defenseless.
no
Backyard Birds just an update, I lost the war, my tree swallows are nowhere to be seen, all there is, are house sparrows nesting in the box, hope they are ok with scrambled eggs...
Don't give up. I would trap each one and the tree swallows will come back.
Backyard Birds I wonder if your sparrows do go extinct in your country, we could send some over, we don’t want them, and you really need them, just a thought. Also Im still trying to capture as many sparrows as I can, in hopes my area can maybe recover, I am just astounded by the number of them! They are never ending! It seems the sparrows,are likely here forever, but I will keep doing my best.
I am 75 now but growing up in the 1950s there were House Sparrows and Starlings in great numbers. Growing up I had no idea these were invasive birds. The sparrows lived in a space where our 2nd floor back porch met the house. There used to be apple trees in former pastures where starlings nested in holes where dead branches rotted out and who knows what carved out the cavities. In the 1970s and 80s efforts were made to encourage bluebird houses on people's properties. Volunteers monitored the houses put on public lands and where they set up bird houses on private property to prevent invasive birds from using them. All the old apple trees are gone now and today in my area (NW Ct), bluebirds are back, and I haven't seen a starling or house sparrow in years now. An aware public made the difference.
Thanks for the insight. I built a preventative structure from raccoons, squirrels and opossums but these house sparrows are so hard to keep away from destroying the bluebird eggs. It’s driving us crazy...thanks again for the tips
You are very welcome. It's amazing how ruthless they are. I'm glad you understand and are willing to help out native birds.
Spookers work. You can make one...but don't use it until just after the eggs are laid for optimal effectiveness
I like these birds
@@78fordtruck4 why you little...
Watch the video and learn.
Keep shooting.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I watched the video and iS iT oKaY tO lIkE tHeSe BiRdS
I have a problem with sparrows what kind of sparrow catcher should I make or buy I have noticed the last couple years I have a bird box sparrows run the bluebirds off or kill them it just tell me how to control them I would appreciate that what kind of bird box should I use to keep sparrows out and bluebirds in
I have videos on trapping house sparrows and starlings. There are repeating traps and nest box traps. I use both. You can make a difference.
By trap do you kill the sparrows?
Euthanize is a better term to use.
Yes. The sparrows are euthanized after being caught.
But, the idea that house sparrows are causing widespread declines in native songbird populations today is not proved. In fact, house sparrow numbers have been declining across the United States over the last few decades while eastern and mountain bluebird numbers are up. And, bluebirds are as successful fledging young where they have sparrows as neighbors as where they do not.
You obviously don't host bluebirds or tree swallows. There's is plenty of information of them destroying bluebird nests and tree swallows among others. And purple Martin landlords will attest to their destructive ways.
I have a songbird trail of 20 boxes, and I was asked to monitor it because the sparrows had been killing the native birds. In the first summer since adopting this trail, fifteen sparrows were trapped an
And removed. This spring so far I have removed six sparrows. I have a friend who has over forty boxes in the same county. We have both adopted a zero tolerance for sparrows in nest boxes. This is the only responsible way to conduct a bluebird trail.
Good for you. Thank you.
You are the best!
We used to have blue birds nest in a box in our yard...until the house sparrows killed the adults, hatchlings, and eggs. After two summers, the blue birds never returned.
That is EXACTLY what I experienced before trapping house sparrows. I'd suggest you get a nest box trap. This video explains how to trap them. ua-cam.com/video/AT6sQDvJMNo/v-deo.html
I'd also suggest putting up at least TWO nest boxes. One for the bluebirds and one to trap incoming house sparrows. And trust me, you won't get just one pair of house sparrows. They will keep coming.
BTW, once you trap House Sparrows or Starlings you can transfer them to a large clear container. Adapt the lid with a valve system and inject helium into it. The birds will NOT know the difference and simply think that it is time to go to sleep and soon your bird infestation problem is solved. I hear it works well for people.
Thats a great idea. where do you get helium?
Good one. I use a laundry bag but once in a while they slip out. They are slick.
Imagine if a certain specie were like over populating the earth and destroying the environment for ALL SPECIES.... I hear you.
You mean people?
Have a problem with seagulls around my house, but I have seen hundreds of sparrows couple hundred meters away. If I start feeding sparrows, is there a chance they'll drive away seagulls? :)
I don't think so. Gulls like food scraps.
I love house sparrows
I hope you love in Europe where they are native.
Yes but you probably love herpes too, genius.
Today my wife and I saw a sparrow peck the eggs of a Robin just 8 feet from our kitchen window. I've seen dead tree swallows with their heads pecked open, watched sparrows take over two of their nest boxes.
So far this spring I've trapped/euthanized 4 and shot 2 sparrows.
Remember, native species have a right to their own habitat. We have a pair of nesting western bluebirds (I monitor them several times/day). If you can't/won't muster the fortitude to euthanize these invaders, get a friend to help.
You're the 2nd person to mention them destroying Robin eggs. Good for you for helping your bluebirds!
I live in Pennsylvania, USA & just found your video b/c I replaced a baby bird yesterday that had fallen out of it's nesting box & was trying to figure out if it was a Wren or a Sparrow. Just now I was looking with binoculars & saw that mama's beak was strong & thicker, rather than longer & skinny, so I think it must be a Sparrow. I was so distressed to hear the content of this video the problems that non-native Sparrows are creating. I am kind of terrified to receive an answer to this question & am dreading your response, but when you talk about trapping the Sparrows to eliminate the problem, what do you then do with them? While I understand & appreciate what you have shared in this video, I am horrified at the thought of any animal being treated inhumanely. Is there a humane option for controlling this problem? Thank you
Nope, lol. My friend works at an animal rehab and they have no use for sparrows as food or otherwise.
You humanely euthanize the bird. Look at the sialis web site. It has many methods. I know it may be hard to do at first but remember the damage they do. Also join the group on Facebook called house Sparrow control. People there will help and support you in your efforts.
I dispose of them quick. Leave them out for raccoons and foxes. They love them
Thank from Chile. Great video
Thank you so much. Do you have them in Chile?
But American sparrows are so cute and beautiful I love them if you will killing them when I think my eyes are crying 😭😭😭😭 I need your country sparrows
Not killing any American native sparrows. Only the invasive non native house sparrows.
If you have any of the good birds, do everything you can to rid your area of sparrows and starlings. Once the sparrows or starlings claim a cavity, they will fight to the death, usually win, then you will not ever see the desirable birds. If you feed a variety of song birds, use the black oil sunflower seeds only as the "bad" birds don't normally find those seeds to their liking.
Jacky, I can tell you speak from experience.The invaders are incredibly aggressive. I think it will be helpful for people to read your sensible educational experiences.
Jacky R Hinke I did not realize there were good and bad birds? I just loved the birds. The sparrows in my vicinity are very smart and call until I feed them. Have they been playing me this whole time?
@@joannenicholson4510 the English House Sparrow and Starlings are a non native species to the US. Both are a cavity nester. Both will destroy Purple Martin, Tree Swallow and Bluebird eggs, babies and adults. These two species are not allowed on my property.
They aren't inherently bad. Just that they were introduced where they aren't part of the ecosystem. In their native land they are not a problem.
@@BackyardBirdsUS haha i don't know. They are pretty wicked things
pretty good, I am looking for information on what the ES are doing to native birds on the Oregon Coast. It can't be good. I need info. to persuade my neighbors who feed them.
They are bad all over. But seems hard to convince people of the problem.
I've never heard of Sparrows being so aggressive here in Europe, maybe they just pick up the bad habits in the land where they live. ( or maybe you just like killing birds).
They are an invasive species in north america. They are native in Europe.
They are horrific in the US.
No wonder I never see finches anymore. I had no idea! Thanks for this video! Is there a way to sterilize them? I don't want to kill anything, but they are the most numerous in my yard in central New Jersey. How do I trap them? Hmm, i gotta look that up!
I have videos on trapping them.
Research ways to euthanize them.
You have to humanely kill them.
As Jeff from Backyard Birds has shared in other videos, you can also clip their wings and let them go, which would prevent them from breeding for a period. That's definitely more helpful than nothing!
@@BrettVano that is a great thing you posted. I wonder if the lack of ability to breed might cause a breeding proliferation later. Nothing is perfect! I do have a hawk in my yard that seems to be good at catching them for dinner, though! Ah, nature! She has her own solutions!
Not only a house sparrow would kill a native songbird Blue Jays do the same exact same thing eventho blue Jays are native here in a America and protected but blue Jays are mostly vegaterian so we don't know how common this is. But I don't have a problem with birds it's just their dark nature is what I don't like and eating your seeds or other things
Blue jays will eat other birds but they don't prevent them from nesting.
In Saudi Arabia we have House sparrow , they nest in masonry blocks holes and they are too many and very noisy ,
I bet they are. They love human made structures for nesting.
I've been using your trap, and have eliminated 8 so far. They are a nuisance eating chicken feed. I have had a few friends here and they think I'm mean killing them, so awkward to explain again and again.
Yeah. I relate them to the lantern fly of the bird world...or mice and rats. Invasive and destructive....disease carriers too.
You are the opposite of mean. Doing nothing is ignorant. Good for you. Keep at it. Lots of people think you are a star!
@@BackyardBirdsUS thanks!
Hello! just found this! I'm a budding nest box provider. This is very informative. I'm curious about how you euthanize the invasive birds? Great Job and thank you.
I use a laundry mesh bag....get it from the box to the bag and a swift hard swing to a hard surface does the job.
Cervical dislocation is the best. It's quick. You can search Internet for directions.
I'm making a movie about Eastern Bluebirds, and I mention in the narration that Bluebirds and House Sparrows vie for the same nesting boxes here in the U.S. Unfortunately, I don't have any footage of House Sparrows at those boxes. You do. Your shots are crips, close, and steady. Would you be interested in letting me use maybe ten seconds of your own footage to fill that gap in my video? I would credit you, of course, both in the movie itself and in the description below it. Here's a link to my channel in case you'd like to check out the quality of my work: @UC-Q-eORu_VVtkbmOgaSpH7A
Let me add, by the way, that I like your reasonable tone in talking about the House Sparrows. I'm not one of those irate fist pounders about the species, but I will suggest some ways to keep them from appropriating bluebird houses.
Feel free to use the footage. Crediting me sounds fine.
@@BackyardBirdsUS That's welcome news, Jeff. Thank you. I"ll let you know when my movie posts, hopefully next Friday or Saturday.
Jeff, two more points: First, if it's okay with you, I'll also use a few seconds of your Van Ert trap footage and link to that video. I know many of my viewers will want to visit your website to learn more about that. Second, would you mind if I also took about 3-4 seconds of the female Bluebird with grasses in her mouth? That's another bit of footage I didn't get. I"m filming them at a house that's 45 minutes from where I live, so my footage for this movie is less complete than it would be for birds I can film in my own backyard.
Jeff, I suspect you didn't see the last comment I posted a few days ago asking to use a bit of the footage for trapping House Sparrows in a nest box. I"d like to recommend that video to viewers in my own movie. I also asked for permissiion to use 3-4 seconds of your shot showing a Bluebird taking grasses into the box because I thought I didn't have that. Later, I discovered that I did, in fact, have two shots of that--but neither is as good as yours. So I could go with mine--unless you'd like to see your shot in the movie. 😉
So anyway, if I don't hear back from you, I'll take out the footage showing you demonstrating the nest box trap. Either way, I'm glad to have the footage you did give me permission to use. Thanks again. Jo
I feed my backyard birds and house sparrows definitely outnumber other species and they are the most aggressive towards others.
Thank you for sharing that observation. Hopefully others will learn from it.
They are protected in England
Build boxes for them
You are correct. People should encourage them where they are native.
I have not seen them where I live in Warner Robins GA. I am aggressive with a pellet gun so if any show up I am ready.
You are my idol. Good for you.
Have had blue birds for two years. This is the first year I’ve seen sparrows. My bluebirds had their first clutch and fledged now sparrows are standing on the house. I was thinking maybe I could just take it down but they may come back next year I don’t know. I’ll look into trapping.
If there is one pair there will be more. You will need to trap them or they will get your blue birds. Sand you don't want that!
I am gaurding a bunch of blue jay nests and about 27 wood pecker nests from these house sparrows. I sit in the grass with my pellet gun and pick em off one by one all day to help out these beautiful birds that have active nests with ehhs in every single one on the tree line all nests are so makes it easy to shoot the house sparrows and a few other invasive burds that are fkying through back up north. And starlings they will throw native nest birds eggs out lay their eggs so native bird raises their young and eggs so they can spread faster they will attack purple Martin's and kill them. Where I live I can shoot them with pellet gun same woth the house sparrow. Nobosy in my area has shot emm and it's over ran here in my neighborhood we all live on a acre lot so now I'm trying to protect these beautiful natuve birds i finally got in my tree line I killed 76 yesterday and 22 today of just house sparrows we have tjousabds here so hopefully by summertime like june I'll have population knocked down enough to have breeding pair of blue jays Robbins and the wood peckers I got 12 downy wood pecker nests and rest are pileated woodpeckers that'nest wise for wood pecker. I got a bunch of native birds nests and im excited and protecting them 100 percent of time only problam is when I'm at work so hopefully I'll be able to save enough pairs to breed and make more next year abd have a bird santuary in my yard lol. My neughborhood has tons of huge 200 plus foot oak trees all over so t be house sparrows are everywhere old lady next dopr gwts mad aboit me killong them but I'm trying to explakn to her that hwr blue jays and everything else will go away if i dont kill them and we got deer and rabbits. The deer graze all day in the neighborhood and nobody cares to poch them either. And the funny thing is they know when it's hunting season because there be a lot more deer in the neighborhood than usual all the big bucks in the big toes will be up in the neighborhood it's kind of funny I'll have 10-15 12-point buck that people are after on the trail cameras near my front yard grazing during hunting season and then went hunting seasons over there go back out to the past year and in front of my friends trail camera
I can't believe you are killing so many in a day. There must be thousands. But you are making a difference.
@@BackyardBirdsUS its crazzy nobody has eber thined them out in this sub division that has been here since 1979. Its like a subdivision that has thousands of 50 plus foot oak trees here and my three big oak trees are 250 years old and oldest is 320 yeara old. So all the trees and areas for them to nest and the woods line in my backyard it's a free for all. I'm starting to see less. I dont miss so maybe the ones that saw thier friends get killed and shot know not to come anywhere near here lol
Im sorry but you left out a huge factor...how do you kill them exactly??
I left that out on purpose. Your best bet is to search the internet. Sialis.org has good info. I'd also recommend joining the group "house sparrow control" on Facebook. Thanks.
How do you choose to dispose of them? I cant imagine it's humane at all which is unfair to the sparrows. The only humane was is euthanasia by injection and I know that's not happening.
There are many options. I recommend you use a search of the internet. The many options are humane.
A well aimed .22 pellet and they don't feel a thing!
Believe me!!
Spot on, as usual, Jeff. I've got to start trapping. They are very aggressive at my birdfeeders. I will say this, I have at least half a dozen White-throated sparrows regularly at my feeders. They naturally feed on the ground. I was thrilled to watch these native sparrows drive the ground-feeding house sparrows away. Not often do I see a native bird push the invaders around.
Randy, WOW, I've not seen the white throated sparrows be aggressive toward the house sparrows. Maybe there is strength in numbers. Feeding on the ground is probably the BEST way to feed birds...but few people do that. I wonder why?
@@BackyardBirdsUS because of vermin and so-called ground squirrils
@@oldranger649 Squirrels AND people want to see the birds they are feeding.
Ironically bluebirds can easily fend off sparrows on the OUTSIDE of the box. Problem is they can't maneuver as well to fight them inside the box. Some people used two holed "mansion" boxes that allow bluebirds to escape the box and take the fight outside.
👍🖐Jeff great info on this video. I have seen some house sparrows in years past and I usually see them around November or December but so far no sign of them. Although they could arrive anytime. I knew some of what you said but had no idea they could even kill or runoff a purple Martin wow that’s so crazy since the Martins are so much bigger. More people need to trap these birds like you did that’s for sure. Have a good weekend I will let you know if I do get some in Florida in my area.
Momma, Is it okay if I call you that? LOL. Your comment makes me FEEL GOOD about posting this video. I think it's very important for people to know about house sparrow competition. I was very upset when a male house sparrow destroyed the nest of my great crested flycatchers. They never renested. Imagine a bird migrating from central america to the US and having their nest destroyed by house sparrows. Very sad. I bet house sparrows do well in Florida but maybe they like temperate place better?
Your thoughts?
Backyard Birds hi you can call me whatever you want some just say OM others say Momma it don’t matter to me Jeff.
Here in Florida and where I live Atlantic Ocean side I double check with US Fish and Wildlife for Florida and they have actual stats for 10 yrs straight now and it is consider a stable number sparrows have been a problem where I live and in all of Florida.
1)very important Fact is they spread disease. At one point last year a bird disease was spreading in some parts of Florida and people were asked to take all feeders boxes platforms down and to be very careful. Luckily in my area I never did see or find a sick or dying bird from the disease. I kept only 1 feeder out and mostly did food on the ground. My Cardinalds and mockingbirds are precious so I defiantly did not want them getting sick from infected sparrows. Anyways I know the sparrows are here just right now all the cow birds that arrived for migration r taking over all the food. Soon I should be seeing the sparrows. You know Jeff I really think some people just put up feeders don’t clean them and they really don’t care as long as they can look at birds. It is a shame to take some steps but not follow through. Anyways I don’t provide housing other than the woodpeckers nest in my trees since my backyard is a food and water source also a place to perch a bit or to perch to fish. The Ospreys Eagles hawks and all my other big birds would just scare the backyard birds away. So I don’t encourage any of them to stay for nesting. Plus 1 yr a wren family got real aggressive after nesting in my hanging pot but the pot was in the entrance way to go down to the lake. After that year I don’t hang any pots up anymore. It was to stressful plus I have a German Shepard and a Samoyed dog. It was a nightmare. Ok I am writing a book. Even if 1 person watches your video that is 1 more person that might do the right thing. Nice talking to you Jeff. 🖐😃
@@OspreyMomma I just saw this comment. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know about spreading disease. I agree that dirty feeders and old moldy seed is not good for birds. Were your wrens aggressive toward the dogs? and you? I wonder if they were house wrens. I had one that pecked me every time I came near its nest. But nesting in a pot sounds like a Carolina wren. I've never heard of them being aggressive. Interesting. But I think individual birds have individual personalities. Your thoughts?
Backyard Birds hi your right Jeff they were Carolina wrens and I think I might have used wrong word but to me it was upsetting. They did not attack or hurt anyone but did fly at you and constantly kinda like they were going to come at you but of course they would fly away in different direction. They were very upset and I did not know if they had babies yet so I had to put up gates to block my dogs from getting to close. All was good then. But it appeared of course aggressive to me although I know I was a threat to them. If I knew that they did not have babies I would have defiantly moved the whole pot. Sorry I should have chose my words better. Emotional I felt they were being aggressive but scientifically they did no harm and was just trying to keep me away from babies. Lessened learned no hanging pots in Florida. My friend had real aggressive blue jay lay eggs in her plant hanging pot in back yard. But she too was able to just block off area. However the blue jays wouldn’t let any birds come around her backyard. And we call it dive bombing but the jays would dive bomb her dog if it was outside without a person. Crazy but in Florida a lot of my neighbors have birds that live to nest in our big hanging pots under the eves or gutters of our houses. It provides excellent hiding place since the plants stay green Healthy all year long and they get shade along with some coverage from the rain in the winter.
Surprise you did not hear about the spread of bird disease it was all over us news but it was the 1 st I ever heard of it happening.
Nice talking with you.
I believe that same wren family are the wrens that visit me once early in morning and right before dark. They are the only 2 C Wrens I have seen. Love their beautiful morning singing. I really love to watch the male call out then female comes and he feeds her sometimes others he takes her to the feeder and he stands guard up above smart birds. Ok have a great weekend. Raining here but it’s better than snow. Take care