I know it's been sometime back there was post about building and using sparrow traps. I know there are plans on net and YouTube. What I'm looking for is the experience that comes from this T-man crowd when it comes to building and using simplest most effective trap. For some reason I seem to have a small flock of sparrow that have decided my pickup is their night roost. Not that it's a terrible problem except they crap on everything. Even few want to sit up on engine. Had couple come way close to hitting me in face piling out of wheel well.
Anyway I can't really be popping them with the pellet gun or even the old Daisy. Was thinking about glue board on top each wheel in evening. But think it just bit to cold for them to work decent. Thus I would like to build small wire multiple catch trap. Something not to complicated to build. Whip out the little mob in one shot maybe.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Mac

start feeding stray cats. your getting long enough in the tooth people will just feel sorry for you stead of complain

Look in some of Jonathan's archived threads for one on sparrow traps

This is actually a pigeon trap but if I forget to open the door when I store it the sparrows always find a way in.

really you would go there

doesn't change the problem when you fire up that V8 and there is a cat in the fan shroud

If you want to borrow it I’m on the north side of lacrosse.

One other time this came up I built one. Has coins for counterweight the trap door.
With hundreds flying around I caught a whopping one starling, so I am not that guy.
Then a sparrow hawk moved in and cleaned them out.

I have a bought sparrow trap. It has 3 compartments, 1 on each side that are traps and a third compartment, in the middle, that the sparrows can get into, but not out of, to act as bait birds when you reset the trap. It works well, except that catching 2 sparrows at a time and having to reset is time consuming and makes no real dent in the sparrow population.

My friend Sandy had a sparrow sized gap, version of the Swedish Crow trap that worked fantastic. She usually caught around 12,000 to 15,000 sparrows and starlings a year in it. It was basically a wire box, 6' tall on the sides, sloping down to 5' in the middle, with a 3" framed gap in the middle. It's footprint on the ground was 6' by 6' The birds would land on the peaks on the sides, hop down the wire to the gap and drop in. They could not fly back out. She rarely baited it. She took out the dead sparrows and starlings once a day and the live ones continuously lured more in. She often would catch a few hundred birds a day during the fall.

Here's a video of a Swedish Crow trap. They are called ladder traps too.



Sandy"s trap didn't have the rungs and worked fine without them. The gap should be sized for what you're trying to catch.

I just quickly put a trap together, out of some existing chickenwire panels, for my friend Ralph once, where I just left the top flat with a gap in the middle, to catch pigeons and it worked to.

You need to make the door big enough to easily get dead or live birds out, if you want them live, but small enough that you can block the bait birds from escaping.

During the migrations, you will have to take birds out several times a day or it will get so full you won't catch any more.

Cowbirds and Cooper's hawks frequently got in Sandy's trap too.

Keith

Think it was Wilcox on here had the one I copied. His worked great, mine stunk.
I don't see him on anymore.

When i was about 8 a buddys dad bought a small havahart cage trap. I dont remember why but me and Stanley found out magpies would get in it if we baited it with dog feed. Great fun.

Only bird trapping I ever did but I still think feeding those poor stray cats would work

If you start feeding stray cats why would they hunt your sparrows?

Danny you trying to get me back in trouble with them cat folks? I had at least one hanging around here last winter
Guess wasn't to street smart got himself squish by car. Had one the cooper or sharp shank hawks used to chase after them sparrows too. But been few weeks since seen him. Probably down the street by the bowling alley. Got hug flock pigeons there be better eaten.
When was kid I'd go out after dark with old Eveready flash light and my Daisy BB gun spot light them sparrows in cedar trees by house. I'm sure I killed100s with that gun. Never seemed be any less. Bought BBs in one the little milk carton size pack when could afford one. Went threw the quarter packs pretty quick. I still got that gun and the recipe for it. BB almost roll out now been shot so much.




Really need learn throw things got it for my 9th birthday looking at date on slip. Mom kept that for all them years.

Mac

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4k76uBuJhH0

Easiest trap to build yourself that Is fairly effective. Buy the cheap birdseed and bait the birds to the area until they are using it good, then put the trap in the location and bait. Once you catch the first bird clip his wings and put back in trap, bird acts as a decoy and will draw more birds in.