House Sparrow Management Strategies

House Sparrow Photo Credit: image by Joshua J. Cotton

So, you have tried everything to keep these nuisance birds from ruining your bird feeding experience. However, Matt Schauer, an awesome moderator on my YouTube channel, decided that he had enough and went to work research and building a deterrence solution for his feeders. Check out the article below to find out what he does to manage these nuisance birds.

Background

I run two 24/7 live bird and critter cams in Birmingham, AL, one being the bird cam and the other a garden cam where ground feeding birds and squirrels and chipmunks feed during the day and nocturnal critters feed in the infrared light after dark. I recently conducted a quick snap poll from the viewers asking which nuisance birds were most nuisance at folks feeders. These were the results:

While house sparrows were not the top rated nuisance birds (at 32%) that the starlings were (at 43%), the house sparrows were rated second. Besides, I already have a blog post on managing nuisance birds here. But the strategies mentioned in that blog post are mostly ineffective for the house sparrow.

House sparrows are now residents of most of North America. and remain one of the most abundant birds on the planet, according to Audubon. These Eurasian natives were first released in New York City in 1851. They are aggressive birds that compete for food and nesting sites, many times ousting other native birds, from feeders and especially cavity nesting birds such as Bluebirds from nesting boxes Given their numbers and ability to quickly repopulate, it’s not a matter of “if” you will have them at your feeder, but rather “when” you they will show up at your feeders.

Matt Schauer feeds birds and happens to have house sparrows at his feeders. All the actions one takes to repel other nuisance birds like starlings, grackles, blackbirds or doves by using caged feeders are not effective against house sparrows. They can fit through caged feeder openings made for the smaller song birds. Due to their aggressive behavior, they continue to be a persistent problem consuming a great deal of food and preventing some other birds from feeding. They even displace birds from nesting houses and have been known to kill other birds that occupy the nesting boxes (including bluebirds).

Great Resource

Matt went to work researching a solution to this problem that plagues a large number of folks who feed birds. He managed to source a solution from his research, which included information from a site produced by Bet, which she named: Sialis. While the site mainly deals with all things related to Bluebirds, I think she has assembled one of the deepest resources on Bluebirds that I am aware of. But it is not only about Bluebirds, but a very deep resource about many other birds and all things birds, including managing nuisance birds like the House Sparrow.

So, in this blog post, I will not begin to attempt to replicate Bet’s valuable resource, but instead, point you to her website resource and continue to discuss how Matt applied the information he gleaned from Sialis, more specifically the article on use of a Halo, which she cites as being developed by the University of Nebraska. For more information from her specific research on House Sparrows, see her research here. The information gleaned from there, provides a great deal of information about the House Sparrow problem and numerous solutions.

Matt’s Solution

Matt proceeded to fashion his solution based on some guidance from the Halo design on the Sialis site. Here are a few pictures from Matt that he graciously provided to me so I could share them with you:

Halo view from below for suet ball feeder

Hook configuration

Ring attachment to 1 x 1 cross-member support using electrical wire staple

Alligator clip attachment to bright shiny hanging wire

Nut used as weight at end of wire stringer

19” Diameter 4mm steel ring from Hobby Lobby

Matt has reported great success. He said to start with fewer wires first to get the other birds to accept it and since he uses alligator clips, he can just add wires until the House Sparrows are intimidated. If they overcome the existing number of wires, he can add more and watch to ensure that it is not scaring other desired birds away as well. So far, so good, as he has had it up since early October 2021!

It may be that a halo can be fashioned from any squirrel baffle by drilling holes in the baffle and dangling silverish visible wires using nuts as weights. The issue is that it is not as flexible in adding or subtracting wires. But this could be overcome by just drilling a series of equidistant holes where you can add or subtract wires until you arrive at the best solution. Also, you can experiment with different size baffles. The advantage of using baffles is that baffles afford both rain and squirrel protection to a degree and they are more readily available. But to save money and if you are a DIYer, go purchase the materials and build one yourself! I’m not sure if Hobby Lobby carries different sized metal rings, but if not they may can be found elsewhere.

Also, you can have fun experimenting with ring sizes. Can one ring cover a number of feeders. or does it have to be one appropriately sized ring with wires per feeder? Keep in mind that you don’t want to create a configuration that can actually get a birds wings caught in the wires. More information about this can be found on Bet’s Halo page . She also has solutions such as Sparrow Spookers that incorporate mylar strips for use on nesting boxes to deter House Sparrows or potential solutions for Purple Martin houses, that are also susceptible being taken over by house sparrows.

Food Strategies

House sparrows love cheap feed that contains millet or milo or some other fillers that other birds tend to ignore. So, changing over to safflower or sunflower or even nyjer (thistle) seed may be one strategy to incorporate. With some other nuisance birds, you can incorporate a second feeder strategy, offering the cheap seed to doves and house sparrows, squirrels, etc. But with house sparrows, for the health of your other birds, the strategy is to not attract them at all with the foods they eat and use deterrent strategies like the Halo mentioned above. House sparrows will also eat mealworms, (live or dried), which is an expensive food offering that can be wiped out in minutes by a small flock of house sparrows. The use of a Halo might be useful for one of these feeders as well

What about platform feeders? How can you protect a platform feeder. I refer you to the in depth excellent resource that Bet provides on the same page as the Halo. There she has an illustration of one of her web page viewers had success with.

This article is like Cliff Notes version of all the well researched and conducted experiments set of information on Sialis. We should take the time to thank both Matt and Bet if you get a chance. Matt can often be found periodically on weekdays in the chat of my 24/7 Live Alabama Bird Cam. And if you stay there and watch for a while, be sure and thank the other awesome and generous moderators (folks with blue wrenches before their screen names) who regularly field viewer questions. We also learn a lot from our community of subscribers and viewers there to which I am also very thankful.

It is always good to give back to the community. As such, I ask that if you try some of these suggested solutions, please let us know in the comments below what your results were. Additionally, if you have any pictures of your set up, you can send them to me at my Ken Little blog email and I can update this blog post to make it an even better resource for others!

Additionally, if you like to watch live birds up close, jump on over to my companion YouTube channel where I have two 24/7 live cams (Bird cam & Garden Cam) and join us in the chat where we discuss all things birds and critters and backyard feeding.

Thanks for dropping by and may God bless you and yours!