From: palmer@chmsr.gatech.edu (Michael T. Palmer)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: pest control (was: Re: bluebirds return)
Date: 8 Apr 92 16:18:35 GMT
Reply-To: palmer@chmsr.gatech.edu (Michael T. Palmer)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology


NOTE!  This post contains descriptions of wildlife management (pest control)
practices and may offend squeamish readers.  Any flames about such activity
should be directed at the ornithological societies whose recommendations are
being followed.  Write for your free list.


In rec.birds, quezon@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Antonio Quezon) writes:

>Starlings do not seem to be interested in the aluminum Purple Martin
>house.  I have read that they prefer darker cavities.  As the aluminum
>houses tend to be brighter on the insides, they seem to show little more
>than a passing fancy.

I have read that too, but I have also read that brightness has no effect.
My wooden house is painted white even on the insides, but starlings love it
(until they meet their untimely end, naturally).

What are the interior dimensions of your martin condo?  If the compartments
are only 6"x6", that may explain it.  Starlings don't like them that small.
Unfortunately, according to the Purple Martin Conservation Association,
neither do the martins if they have a choice.  The compartments in my house
are either 6"x12" or 6"x9", and until I made them this large I had between
one and three total nesting pairs per year.  Not good.  After the increase
in compartment size, I had nine (9!) pairs last year even though there were
fewer compartments (10 instead of 16).  90% occupancy is pretty good.

Back to the starlings.  Since my house in heavy and on a swing pole (instead
of a telescoping one), it is essentially impossible to use an in-hole trap
like you do.  (Oh, that I could).  Instead, I have been using a separate
"birdhouse" trap hung beneath the martin house.  I have seen no other cavity
nesting birds beside the martins, starlings, and house sparrows in this area,
and I have never trapped anything besides starlings and sparrows (even
accidentally).  After trapping, they are dispatched as humanely as possible
as suggested by the Audobon Society.


>                                 These facts do not mean that I ignore
>the presence of starlings in my yard.  When they visit the feeders in my
>backyard, which unfortunately they often do, I dispatch as many of them
>as will sit still long enough for me to shoot them with my pump action
>pellet gun.

Now, that's a thought!  Using a feeder to get them to stand still long
enough (and AWAY from the house, where I have to be VERY careful about the
martins).  We also use a pellet gun, for those pests which are not interested
enough in the trap, but insist on inhabiting (and defending against martins)
my martin house.  By the way, a 4x scope helps (distance is 70+ feet).


>                        My pellet gun is not as effective on house
>sparrows as it is on starlings since they are quite a bit smaller
>and harder to hit, and I wouldn't want my neighbors to see me running
>around shooting at birds in my front yard.

You ain't kidding!  On the up side, though, when I do hit the sparrows, they
usually drop on the spot, whereas starlings are quite a bit tougher.  I
sometimes have to capture them and then dispatch as if I had trapped them.
So far this year, the sparrows have not been much of a problem.  Over the
past month, though, we have trapped 12 starlings (before the martin house
was put up).  Unfortunately, a nearby neighbor has a martin house that he
ignores (except to clean and store over the winter).  Which means, of course,
that every year I have to contend with the starlings he breeds.  I've gently
suggested that spend more time on it or just not put it out, but after
assembling and mounting it (it was a Christmas gift), he wants to use it.
He just doesn't care what birds inhabit it, or what effect that has on other
martin landlords.  To be fair, he probably just doesn't understand or hasn't
thought about it that way.  I'll keep working on it.

By the way, are your martins back yet?  My wife said that we have about five
of them back, now.  They started coming in this past weekend (I'm in Atlanta
right now, so I can only hear them over the cordless phone when she goes out
on our deck).

Also, have you heard about the Purple Martin Conservation Association?  They
maintain a database of registered colonies (you do NOT have to join to
register your colony - they want as much data as they can get) all over the
country.  They are the BEST source of martin information around, and conduct
research (they're affiliated and housed with the Edinboro University of
Pennsylvania) to find answers to pressing problems.  I have copies of previous
posts about them... if you're interested let me know.

Thanks for the info!
--
Michael T. Palmer, M/S 152, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  23665
Temporarily a Techie: Center for Human-Machine System Research, Georgia Tech
Voice: 404-894-4318,    FAX: 404-894-2301,    Email: palmer@chmsr.gatech.edu