Passive House Sparrow control on Bluebird trail = disaster

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Stelco Dewitt, MI(Zone 5b) May 19, 2007

It’s been fun, but this is one of my last posts. I’m not renewing my subscription here.

Before I leave I want to let you all know that I decided to attempt passive control on my Bluebird trail to control House Sparrows. Thinking that if I left them alone they might leave my Bluebirds and Tree Swallows alone was WRONG! I lost all three Tree Swallow nests with young and eggs and a Bluebird nest with the maximum number of young (six) in the past three days. One or more House Sparrows went on a killing spree and cleaned my trail out. No Bluebird or Tree Swallow nests are left. Death is the only way to control House Sparrows if you want native cavity nesting birds. I will never make this mistake again. All houses will now be cleaned out and I’ll start over. Every house that cannot be fitted with a trap will be replaced. Please don’t make the same mistake that I did. Trap (or shoot) and kill every House Sparrow and European Starling that you can if you want to help our native cavity nesting birds!!! Every year that I see the death of our native birds caused by these foreign invaders doubles my will to eliminate as many as I can. I figure that I owe some Bluebirds and Tree Swallows about 20 dead House Sparrows this year. I’ll do my best to double that number!

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Equilibrium May 23, 2007

Passive control works extremely well for me personally for both English house sparrows and European starlings... ONLY when combined with active control by my husband who is the birder around here.

You are not alone in having attempted passive control on its own.

These birds do need to be managed better. Based on my personal experiences, passive controls will never work and are ineffective at best.

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