House sparrows?

[Kain]

Anyone kill house sparrows?  I have been slaughtering the starlings but I have never had a reason to go after house sparrows.  They have been hanging out in my garden a lot but dont seem to be doing any damage to anything.  But the more I read about them I am wondering if I shouldnt be targeting them as well.  Any advice?

[boneaddict]

I kill them by the THOUSANDS(not exaggerating).    I bought a pellet rifle for it, I use snake shot, I trap them, and I have even used unscrupulous means in the past.   My vested interest is that I feed my pheasants and they can get through the wire, even the one inch.   They can eat $100 of feed in a weekend.  Sometimes for fun I'll wingshoot them........the pellet rifle I bought is heavier than my 06, so its good practice for offhand shooting as well.     They take over all nests of "good" birds, eat me out of house and home and since I attract them, take to eating my grapes, soft fruits, raspberries etc.

[WDFW-SUX]

 .....

[lokidog]

We wack the starlings as much as possible.  Fortunately, we don't have house sparrows to worry about.  I can see that they would eat a lot of pheasant feed.   I used small mesh chicken wire for the coop to keep the native sparrows from eating so much.  Of course we free-range the chickens in the afternoons and have even had turkeys and a "wild" ram in there eating chicken feed in the coop. 

I have never really heard about the house sparrows taking over other birds' nests but we have craploads of brown-headed cowbirds which I wish I could shoot.  Last year we caught a juvenile cowbird in a rabbit cage in our greenhouse and the poor mother, a towhee, would come in and feed it through the bars of the rabbit cage.

Back in the day, my grandfather owned several building in the town I grew up in and he used to put strichnine laced corn out on the roof for the sparrows and pidgeons.  He killed probably tens of thousands through the years and you wouldn't know it now in that little town.

[bonecrusher]

i would say if you have no reason to kill birds i.e the above mentioned than just "slaughtering" them for kicks is a little sadistic. i think we can enjoy wildlife with out killing everything. if they are causing damage or costing you money you probably wouldn't have had to ask if killing them was a good idea

[WDFW-SUX]

starlings are not wildlife.

[PolarBear]

Last month we had a few hundred starlings land on a tiny patch of lawn just outside our front door.  I stuck the old 12 gauge out the window and gave then both barrels.  I had close to a hundred dead birds to pick up.  What a mess, I'll never do that again!

[boneaddict]

Oh you enjoyed it, you know it.

[PolarBear]

In kind of a sick and twisted way, yeah I kinda enjoyed it.  The cats ate well.  They were both out there grabbing birds to haul off to their hidey holes.

[boneaddict]

I think last week when I parked my truck for three days and the *censored*s built a nest on my engine block.....
I've been tearing out nests and destroying eggs.  Some apparantly made it as I had a new batch out here this weekend.  What a vile bird.  (starlings) 

[Kain]

Good points Bonecrusher but the reason I was asking was I just starting reading about the little birds I had been seeing and came across a couple of articles on the house sparrow.  I had no idea the little buggers were so destructive.  They are an invasive species that will attack nests of native birds and drive off and sometime kill birds larger than themselves.  I have seen very few robins, blue jays, and other smaller birds around my place.  I have a few yellow gold finches (seen rarely) and some other birds that I dont know the name of and I enjoy seeing them also.  I have lots of humming birds but mostly all I see is crows, starlings, and house sparrows.  You are right that I have no real reason to kill them as they have not cost me anything that I know of.  I guess my thought was more as management of a invasive predatory bird.  Would thinning them out help native birds and is that a good "reason" to kill them?  I was kind of leaning that way but wanted to get the opinion of you guys to see if I was way off like Bonecrusher is saying.

[bonecrusher]

i don't think your way off if you are indeed seeing and impact on other wildlife and the species is indeed becoming invasive in your area. if you think you can make a difference and manage the population for a healthy and diverse bird habitat around your house than i say go for it, as that would not be killing them just for the hell of it. i to really like to watch the birds and i have a very diverse population around the house including goldfinches, red wing black birds tree and barn swallows plus the house sparrows and starlings. some crows have moved in lately and I'm not seeing as many birds (could be the weather lately too) if they affect what kind of birds hang out or rather don't hang out around the house i will remove said crows.

[bobcat]

Starlings are not native here, and either are English sparrows. Therefore they are "invasive" species.  I'm not sure about "house sparrows." Good luck "removing" crows. I think they're a little too smart to simply remove them.   

[bonecrusher]

ill ask um real nice like to leave

[boneaddict]

Crows and magpies actually have a season I think, I'd have to dig deeper into the regs on that one.  There was a time that they ALONG with starlings were protected compliments of how they worded it, but I believe that has all been fixed.    One of the main menu items for a crow are eggs, so you can imagine that they'd have an impact.  However, I believe they are the American crow, where as the starlings and ENGLISH sparrow are not AMerican.  I assumed by house sparrow you were talking about English sparrow.  I'm not an expert birder though so you might be talking two different ones.

[bobcat]

I don't remember starlings ever being protected. Crows are protected, yes. Through some stupid treaty with Mexico. Unless they're in the act of depredation.

[sako223]

From the 2010 game regs page 60

Crow  Statewide: Oct. 1, 2010 - Jan. 31, 2011 Crows in the act of depredation may be taken at any time.

Magpies are federally protected but there is also a specific clause allowing killing them when in the act of depredation.

We also get a ton of house finches that resemble the sparrow just add color.
We have killed up to 50 sparrows in one sitting with the pellet gun here at the house.
we stopped counting starling kills in the thousands and magpies in the... well you know. Crows a good number too.

[Kain]

  It says "house sparrow" in the regs but I think that is same thing as "English" or "European".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Sparrow

It is also known by the alternative vernacular names English Sparrow, Indian Sparrow, and Spatzie or Spotsie.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/hunter/huntregs2010.pdf  Page 73

7. Depredating Wildlife:
Rock doves (pigeons), Eurasian collared doves,
starlings, and house sparrows may be taken
at any time. Crows may be taken during the
crow season or in the act of depredation. Crow
season: Statewide, no limit, October 1 - January
31. Magpies may be taken only in the act of
depredation (damaging crops or other property).

[sako223]

Another tough one is Ravens are federally protected and although generally larger than a crow can be difficult to distinguish at times.

[WDFW-SUX]

Ravens tail feathers are a different shape..

[Kain]

Yes ravens are larger, their tails have a pointed triangle shape and they can soar while crows have to constantly flap their wings.  From my experience they are mostly solitary when they are out flying around but will come to the call of other ravens while crows are very social and usually fly with others.

[runamuk]

Ravens tail feathers are a different shape..

Ravens silhouette is also different not to mention they are huge and their vocalizations are different...

[sako223]

Yes I understand there are ways to identify the difference but as I said at times it can be difficult to distinguish.
When in crow season you see one sitting on a rock at a distance it is not always certain. We have passed on a few shots to be safe.

[PolarBear]

It is too bad that buzzards and turkey vultures are protected.  Man those things are thick around my place.

[HardCorpsHuntr]

Another tough one is Ravens are federally protected and although generally larger than a crow can be difficult to distinguish at times.

One way to tell tell the difference;  If you shoot and miss it's a Raven, if you shoot and kill it it's a crow!

[sako223]

One way to tell tell the difference;  If you shoot and miss it's a Raven, if you shoot and kill it it's a crow!

Sounds reasonable, wonder if the feds will buy it.

[jdb]

One way to tell tell the difference;  If you shoot and miss it's a Raven, if you shoot and kill it it's a crow!
[/quote]thats exactly what i was gonna post. you beat me to it!

[trippledigitss]

Last month we had a few hundred starlings land on a tiny patch of lawn just outside our front door.  I stuck the old 12 gauge out the window and gave then both barrels.  I had close to a hundred dead birds to pick up.  What a mess, I'll never do that again!

HAHAHAHA! That is freaking funny! Picturing the thought in my head and still cracking up just thinking about it!

[Gringo31]

Starlings, pigeons, (house, barn, english) sparrows all need killed.  Black birds as well.

[lokidog]

Blackbirds?  Redwing?  Yellow-headed?  They are awesome birds and do no harm to anything.  Plus, they are protected.  I've got no problems taking out the non-natives just because they are there, but no reason to pound on the other song birds... except maybe brown-headed cowbirds, though techniocally also protected.  Rock dove or barn pigeons actually taste decent as well plus are good fetching practice for the dog.

[Gringo31]

Black, black birds.  Come in by the hundreds, crap all over the place and can cause issues between their "presence" and the close location of human food crops.  (they might poo in the field)

[lokidog]

That sounds like starlings, slightly irridescent, yellow beak, short and fat?  Kill 'em all!   

[sako223]

Blackbirds have a different demeanor. I have killed thousands of starlings. Once killed a blackbird and realized to late it had a black beak, Actually felt bad.

[Airnip]

Working at the city dump grading for a membrane happened on to a professional. He came in a car to a trap. Trap is a short chicken wire shed with the peak open. There is a board slightly down from the peak that gets potato chips and bread put on it for bait. The birds fly down through the opening get on the board. Jump sideways to take off but hit the wire. Then can't figure how to get around the board back out. Civil servant
collects them in five gallon bucket. Runs a hose from his exhaust pipe into the lid. Puts out more bait. Moves on to the next trap. Steady career type job.

The Boston Shakespeare Society wanted to bring every bird mentioned in Shakespeare to America. Deliberately importing Starlings and Sparrows in my opinion would be about as brilliant as someone missing houseflys from the old country and having some shipped in.

[boneaddict]

Noah had his priorities screwed up a bit.  He could have easily wacked teh skeeter, woodtick, starlings and english sparrow, and we'd all be better for it today.   

[MikeWalking]

One of my Uncles had a farm when I was little in Essex, Ontario about 50 miles North of Detroit. On one summer visit he called me out after diner to a pair of lawn chairs out front and handed me a .22 air rifle.

He had a word for starlings that rhymes with bigger... We would sit out most nights shooting till dark..