I have had a problem with HOSPs at my place, I have tried air guns with little success as it requires a lot time. Recently have built a trap which is working well and can be working while I take care of other things. I have caught about 8 in the last 24 hours with it. baiting with bread seems to be fairly effective. Are there other baits you all are using in these? Here is a pic of my current trap, made of some scrap plywood and wire with about 1/2 in spacing. Thanks Gonzo

I use dog or cat food dry not wet and sometimes chicken feed

Thanks, will definitely give it a shot. I have plenty of dry dog food around.

Gonzo, you did a nice job constructing that cage. We used to shoot sparrows in the barns with .22 shotshells and a smoothbore .22

rifle. We don't have the huge amounts of sparrows like we used to, but if we get any English sparrow jobs, I'll know who to contact.

They're now protected over here in the UK. The House Sparrow has undergone a huge decline!

Thanks Paul!

Roe, there is no decline where I am, it is all I can hear all day at this point. i pulled into my street yesterday and watched about 40-50 take off out of the road in front of me. I admit to being fascinated by the shear numbers they have for a non-native species, but that is where my appreciation ends at this point.

Funny to see someone from New England region in the states and someone from England overseas talking about a bird that is native in one hand and in decline and non native on the other and thriving!

Interesting and only available in real time thanks to the Internet and forums!

Agreed! I would be really curious to know what has them in decline so we can make use of the info here. The research I have done says a single pair can produce up 4 times a season for a rough total of 16 new sparrows. Makes it hard to imagine them in small numbers anywhere.

Off the cuff there are likely differences in native predators and factors that existed in Europe in different numbers and concentrations, natural food and habitat are other potential keys.

Though we have Hawks and Falcons and cats and various other bird predators native vs non native can alter the balance in most ecosystems.

Like many introduced species invasive nearly always do better.

Our mink raises heck over there, our beaver make problems in South America, south Americas nutria makes major problems for us, and so on..... Rats, hog, plants and insects as well....

Sounds like a solid theory, I am not of the mindset to introduce anything new to try and get rid of these. lol.

a teeter totter trap works good for sparrows. Just got to get balance rite. It just keeps working. It works for starlings too with a bit of modification of hole size



http://www.chuckspurplemartinpage.com/spartrap.htm

Another link- https://www.sparrowtraps.net/index.html , if interested.

Sparrows are in decline due to much less insects about in our gardens, they need insects to rear the chicks for the first 2 weeks of their lives. Also, in years gone by the sparrows had many nesting sites in our roofs. Today we are all getting UPVC facias and the sparrows sometimes struggle to find nest sites. There's other factors, but those two don't help. I have seen a marked decline over the past 25 years.
maybe you guys should live trap and ship them back over here!

If you pay the frieght I would consider it,lol.

For these little pests, adaptability is key. They are aggressive to other birds and can adapt like no other I've seen.

Interestingly, they do better in the city than in the countryside here in NH. With all the old mill buildings we have, any little crevice or hole is a nest site. They will eat garbage, the flies it attracts and the resultant maggots along with any seeds from untended or poorly tended areas. French fries at the fast food places are a staple food year round.

When I go into Manchester, our largest city, they are the most numerous bird, followed by pigeons.

I agree with roe that nest sites are critical to their population levels.

My latest trap. Traps a single bird, when they step on the wire perch inside the door closes. I am currently trying some of the dry dog food, they have checked it out but not shown much interest as of yet. I tried a 1/4 of a suet cake inside the original and was much more productive with just bread. Am going to try some variety of seed mix fairly soon, but have not yet since I need to get to the store and acquire it.

Gonzo,

Have you seen the small sparrow box trap supplied through bird barrier?

http://www.birdbarrier.com/item/tt-sp15/sparrow-trap-door/

Only one bird or however many are on it at the time versus the multi catch designs but one many are having good reports from. Just finished
mist netting my first group of birds in a big box store, some serious learning lessons, loving the net option!

I have seen vids with stuff similar to these, have nt tried making one yet. Maybe soon though.

I made one like a quail trap except the cones pointed down and were smaller and shorter with a smaller space in the back to open and catch them. I need to build another, dog jumping on it done the one I have in.

I like the trap door set posted by HDWildlife, took a look at the design and may try to make one. Seems to me if there were a large box below with a one way door in the bottom of the box it could be made into a multicatch setup in no time.