House Sparrow Control
By Madame WingNut
(11-23-13)
House Sparrows (HOSP) are a non-native, invasive species. They are the biggest problem I face
when working with Eastern Bluebird, Tree Swallow and Purple Martin conservation. HOSP enter
nesting cavities or nest boxes and kill native bird eggs/young/adults. They crack and toss out
eggs. They peck young and/or adults in the head and kill them. Our native cavity nesters are not
good at defending themselves when trapped in their nest cavity. Native cavity nesters are
primarily insect eaters with beaks designed for that purpose. HOSP, on the other hand, are
primarily seed eaters with seed cracking beaks. Their seed cracking beaks make excellent head
cracking beaks.
Because HOSP are not native, it is legal to trap and dispatch them. Before you get started, make
sure you know what the male and female of the species looks like. It would be very unfortunate
and illegal to harm a native bird. Excellent photos abound in bird guides and on the internet. Get
to know their song or call. If you hear one singing on your street or near your nest box(es), know
that these birds are extremely social and their call will quickly attract more. A good website to
see photos and calls of this bird can be found at:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/house_sparrow/id
Unlike most of our other native cavity nesting birds, HOSP will nest closely to others of their own
species. One only has to look at a HOSP infested Purple Martin house to realize this. One of the
worst mistakes people make, when unwilling to trap and eliminate these birds, is clustering nest
boxes close together. Another big mistake is allowing them to reproduce at all. Many manage
this problem by pulling out their nests and/or eggs. HOSP are extremely tenacious, however, and
this technique is seldom effective. I much prefer to trap and eliminate them as soon as they show
up, either in my yard at bird feeding stations in the fall and winter months, or inside nest boxes
during breeding season.
I use a two-pronged approach to trapping and eliminating HOSP: repeat bait traps, small animal
Havahart traps; and inbox (inside nest box) traps. There are also a number of management
techniques I use to reduce their numbers in my yard and on my trails. Let's start with repeat bait
traps as those are especially effective this time of year.
Repeat Bait Traps
Repeat bait traps use food bait and live HOSP decoys to attract HOSP. Placement of trap is
important. Set it out near a bird feeding station if you are feeding other birds. I feed only
sunflower oilers during fall/winter months and then put millet or bread in the traps for bait. HOSP
will reluctantly eat sunflower oiler seeds, but when they discover the millet (one of their favorite
foods) or fresh white bread in the trap, in they go. Never feed millet anywhere else at bird feeding
stations. If you see HOSP roosting in densely branched trees or bushes, setting trap near this
roosting area is extremely effective also. Trap must be carefully monitored and any native wildlife
(birds or chipmunks) released ASAP.
When live decoy HOSP are in the trap, it is extremely effective. If maintaining live birds in trap for
period of time, it is very important to keep them well watered and fed. Millet seed or bread work
fine. Both of these make excellent bait in trap compartment to capture more. The calls and
activity of the live decoys quickly attract more HOSP; they find the bait and are captured. If kept
outside at night, I recommend covering trap with old blanket. It reduces their stress, and protects
them from cold winds and prowling night predators. Make sure to cover with waterproof material
during rain as birds will die of hypothermia if drenched. Some people bring trap into garage every
evening. If you do this, make sure to lay newspapers down under trap. They are extremely
messy.
The only good traps I know must be ordered over the internet. A couple of good traps that are on
the market are:

Deluxe Repeating Sparrow Trap (DRST): http://www.sparrowtraps.net/
o My favorite repeat bait trap
o At $54.95 + shipping, quite a reasonable price for what you get
o Rugged - I have two of these that have served me well for many years
o Large holding area – many live decoys can fit in here
o Does not require resetting
o Excellent for trapping non-native European Starlings during winter months

Wire Sparrow Trap: http://shop.purplemartin.org/Baited_Traps-list.aspx
o Compact and very portable
o Great for short term use or in areas where unobtrusive trapping is good idea
o At $73 + shipping, a little pricey. Note cost of other repeat bait trap on this
website which is much more expensive ($78) than the DRST and has a smaller
holding chamber.
o Very small holding area – only one or two decoys should be kept in center
compartment for short time
o Requires immediate resetting. This trap can only capture two HOSP at a time
Havahart Trap
A small Havahart trap can work well to capture HOSP. A 10”x3”x3” two-door mouse size trap set
on deck railing near bird feeding station baited with millet or white bread can capture quite a few.
Set with both doors open. These traps can be purchased at local hardware stores or over the
internet.
The use of this trap requires constant monitoring as native birds are much more likely to find their
way into this one. I use HOSP trapped in here as live decoys for the DRST.
Inbox Traps
During nesting season, capture HOSP as soon as they show interest in a nest box. Remember, if
the male is allowed to remain and sing; he will not only attract a mate, but many others as well. It
is almost as though he is saying, “Hey! Look what I found!” I have trapped 3 different male
HOSP in the same nest box in the course of one day.
Learn the signs that indicate a HOSP has been using your nest box.
 Know what they look like (above). If near box and singing, they have almost certainly
claimed it. If you see male in or on box, he has claimed it.
 Know what their nest looks like. They make a tall messy nest (up to the ceiling if you let
them) of heterogeneous materials. They use long pieces of dried grass and often
manmade fibers such as pieces of yarn, ribbon, pony tail scrungees, cigarette butts,
synthetic rope pieces, even toilet paper; bird feathers, etc. If you find bird feathers in
nest, there may have been a deadly battle so look between layers of nest for a dead
native bird.
 Know what their feces looks like. Small diameter, white little ¼ inch “noodles” sort of
describes it. Insect eating, native birds leave a more gloppy darker feces if using box for
roosting.
 Know what their eggs look like. Please tell me you didn’t let it get this far…
Any nest box I set out has an inbox trap that fits it. My inbox trap of choice is the Van Ert
Universal Sparrow trap. All of my nest boxes have trap mount screws installed so trap can be
quickly slipped in when needed. Some Wild Birds Unlimited stores carry it in my area, but
ordering it online will save you a little money if you are ordering a few. If you have a Bluebird
Trail in a HOSP heavy area, I recommend about one inbox trap for every 4 boxes you have in the
field. Traps can be ordered at: http://www.vanerttraps.com/universal.htm
Tell Floyd, Paula sent you.
Only install trap when you believe HOSP has claimed box. You may need to reduce nest so trap
springs freely shut when triggered. Replace about top inch of nest. Replace any eggs they have
laid. Scatter some of the nest material on the ground in front of box. Put a single blade of grass
in hole. A trick I use, if they don’t have eggs of their own yet, is to put a small plastic craft egg
that looks like a HOSP or House Wren egg inside the box toward the back where they can see it.
All of these techniques encourage HOSP to go back in. He/she is trapped live inside the box. If
you capture the female, reset immediately as male is more bonded to box and will almost
certainly go back in shortly.
To retrieve trapped bird and prevent escape, place mesh laundry bag over entire box and cinch
tight around pole. Open box and smack it. Bird should fly into bag. Grab it through the mesh
and make sure it is a HOSP. Release any native bird immediately.
Once HOSP are captured and in hand, they should be humanely dispatched. For more
information on how to dispatch trapped HOSP, check out: http://www.sialis.org/hospdispatch.htm
I recycle captured HOSP at our local wildlife rehabilitation center where they are fed to hungry
hawks, owls, etc. I freeze them and deliver them to center when I have a few. It is important that
birds delivered to rehabbers are not killed with dangerous chemicals or contain pellets from air
rifles. Contact your local rehabber to make sure they want this food source before bringing it to
them.
Happy HOSP hunting! You are doing our native cavity nesting birds a great service when you do
so. This spring, an Eastern Bluebird may give you a hearty wing wave for your efforts.
Bluely Yours,
Madame WingNut