Terrorists

The European Starling - "The Terrorist"

Last year it was the House Sparrow who was terrorizing my Purple Martin house.  This year it is the European Starling.

Sometimes I wonder if it is even worth it to put up a Purple Martin house.  Every spring it is a battle between the non native North American birds like the European Starling and the House Sparrow and the native species of birds like the Eastern Bluebird, House Swallow, and Purple Martin as to who will occupy the birdhouses I have placed in our backyard.

Already this year one very aggressive starling has killed one of the Purple Martins who was trying to guard the Purple Martin House.  I've already torn our three starling nests with a total of nine eggs.  I took a picture of the dead Purple Martin (at the base of the bird house) and the starling eggs but I decided not to post them on this blog posting.  I don't want to be too gruesome with my blog postings, this subject is gruesome enough.

Frank "The Birdman"  - the man who installs and maintains my Purple Martin House

Frank the Birdman, the man who put up my Purple Martin house, suggested that I get a gun and shoot the starlings.  Oh sure, that's a nice activity in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood here, me shooting a 22 to kill starlings.  Oh don't get me wrong, I have no compunction about killing these orange beaked, black terrorists but I doubt if I would endear myself to my neighbors in this heretofore quiet neighborhood shooting a 22 caliber rifle every day, killing birds.  Oh yeah, my father's hillbilly genes would come out in me than.  He shot birds all the time on his property. In fact he had a gun at the ready, which upset me every time I visited him.  Funny thing about all his guns, I think they're still in his gun rack.  None of this three sons desired or took them after he died in August of 2000 even though my Mother said "They're now yours."  She also said each of us could have one of the stuffed deer heads in his knotty pine paneled living room. Those deer heads are still in that living room, staring glassy eyed (literally) at the opposite wall.  He also has a stuffed owl.  Nice touch.

My father Isaac in his garden 1962 - he fought a lifelong battle with non-native birds in his garden - the birds usually won

Anyway, back to my current problem with the starlings who are terrorizing my Purple Martins.  Any suggestions short of tearing out their nests each time they build one?

My ladder at the Purple Martin house a short time ago after I cleaned out yet another starling nest

Starling Surpise

My Purple Martin House this morning - after

A few days ago we discovered that there was a starling nest in our Purple Martin house.  How we discovered this fact was that Bill happened to be looking at the Purple Martin house through his binoculars and noticed that some big baby birds were having trouble getting out of the narrow opening that is in our Purple Martin house  Those narrow openings are there for a reason...to keep out big birds like starlings!

After the baby starlings flew the coop - I check the damage

The last couple of years we've had a Sparrow Problem with those aggressive, killer, non-native birds nesting in our Purple Martin house.  I lost count of the number of time I tore out their nests and threw their brown speckled eggs in the adjoining cornfield.  Oh I know, I know.  How could I be so cruel?  I didn't always used to be this way but after a few dead blue birds and swallows, my view of the "cute" sparrow changed.  This year we didn't have any problem with the sparrows.  Apparently the world got out in Sparrow Land that they weren't welcomed here.

I begin the clean out - what a mess!

So this year I thought we were all find and dandy in our backyard habitat with one nesting of baby bluebirds already raised and out in the world.  The bluebirds have second set of blue bluebird  in another bluebird house, the swallows having taken over the original bluebird house.

Oh yeah, I'm loving this!

We have seen many new Purple Martins leave their apartment nest in the Purple Martin house but Bill's sighting a few days ago caused him some concern.  When we did determine that it was indeed starlings in the nest we were wondering how they were going to get out of that small opening.  The past couple of days it seemed like they were stuck.

So we decided this morning to lower the Purple Martin house and see what was going on.  Oh don't worry, I wasn't going to destroy the young starlings.  Once the birds hatch (sparrows included), I leave them alone.  I don't kill live birds although that's probably what I should do.  I'm not that hard...yet.

We thought the young starlings were to big to get through the opening.  I decided to open the front of the apartment and see if that was the problem.  Well, much to my surprise when I opened the apartment there were FIVE BABY STARLINGS!  They were crouched in the back of the apartment, on top of one another, terrified.  I looked at them and they looked at me.  Then one....two.....three....and four flew out of the apartment and into the open air.  There was one baby starling left.  He/she eyed me then decided to also get the hell out of there before this monster (that would be me) decided to DO SOMETHING.

Five baby starlings in that little apartment.  And what a mess they made of it.  Man oh man, did it stink. That little metal cubby hole was full of straw and bird shit.  I got my handy trowel out and started to scoop out this delightful debris.  WHAT A MESS!  Bill said I was grunting non-stop.  I guess!

While I had the Purple Martin house down I decided to check the other apartments to make sure there were no dead baby birds.  In previous years I have found baby birds that were killed by intruders like the starlings or sparrows attempting to build their nests.

What I found was two apartment with eggs in them.  Two more apartments with young Purple Martins.  And I might add, all the apartments were very neat.  It's interesting but both the starlings and sparrows have very messy nests.  Very messy.  Unlike the Purple Martins, bluebirds and swallows who have very neat nests.  And you know that me, with my anal personality, appreciates a neat apartment.

The Purple Martin house has six apartments.  If you were keeping count, you'll notice that I've accounted for five of those apartments.  I checked the six apartment on the other side of the Purple Martin house.  Uh huh, you guessed it...starlings!  Oh well, they're born and my rule is once they're hatched they become U.S. citizens.   That's the rule in my backyard.

All is well again in Purple Martin House Land  - they all returned home

Murder in Milton

My backyard with its perimiter of birdbaths, raised flower beds and bird houses

Every year at this time in early spring migratory birds arrive in my back yard to begin their nesting. This year was no exception as the bluebirds, swallows, starlings and the sparrows swooped down and around, checking out the housing accommodations on the verdant green acre of lawn that is our backyard.

Two years ago I placed three blue bird boxes on the perimeter of the Back Forty. I also had a purple martin house installed by the Frank the Birdman of Milton. I’ve always wanted one of those multiple apartment purple martin birdhouses. Now that I had an open clear field of almost an acre I could do this. I also wanted to have those fence post bluebird houses like my dad used to have surrounding his three acres of land he used to lovingly farm his crop of corn, tomatoes and string beans.

My dad's garden in Pennsylvania

I couldn’t have those types of birdhouses at our home in Pennsylvania because we lived in the middle of the woods. The only kind of birdhouses that we had success with in Pennsylvania was the Jenny Wren birdhouses which my dad built for me. Here at our home in Delaware I only have one tree, an ornamental prune tree in the front of the house. Here in Delaware we no longer lived in home that attracted woodland birds.

My house in Delaware with its lone tree - no room for woodland birds

So I had had the bluebird and purple martin birdhouses installed. However I soon discovered my first visitors were the common house sparrow. I didn’t think too much about it at first. But then one day, Frank the Birdman was over adjusting my purple martin house and he happened to take a peek in one of the bluebird houses. Immediately after swinging open the door he discovered the sloppy bird nest of a house sparrow! Much to my shock he put his calloused hand in the bird box and scooped out the nest, eggs included, and tossed it into a nearby cornfield.

Swallow checking recently emptied birdhouse of sparrow nesting and eggs last summer

After tossing that sparrow nest in the cornfield he turned to me with a look of surprise and anger and said “That’s a damn sparrow nest! You don’t want that!” Well, excuse me but…….. Then he explained to me the trouble with sparrows. They are a very aggressive bird. They are not native to this country. The sparrow and the starling are the two species of birds mainly responsible for the decimation of the blue bird and other song bird population of the continental United States. If I permitted the house sparrows to nest on my property I was contributing to the extinction of the bluebirds. Frank’s comments caused me serious concern.

The Determined House Sparrow

Well, I did some research and he was absolutely right. In fact the sparrow and starling are so aggressive that they will kill any other bird that is in a nest they want. They will even build their nest over the dead birds and sometimes, the dead baby birds. I found this hard to believe until I witnessed it myself. Last year when I fought a six week battle to remove a sparrow from one of the purple martin apartment I found one nest of three baby purple martins that had been pecked to death by the sparrow. I wrote several blog postings last year about my frustrating battle with the Determined House Sparrow.

Baby purple martins last year - the type that were pecked to death by the house sparrow

So this year I was ready for their invasion. The house sparrows didn’t disappoint. This week they arrived. I was ready for them. I had taped the entrances to the six purple martin apartments. They couldn’t get in there. The purple martins don’t arrive until May 1st, so I had plenty of time to discourage the Determined House Sparrow.

My purple martin house

Of my three bluebird houses, there is only one in which the bluebirds nest. It is the one near the white fence of my neighbor Tom. For the past two years a bluebird couple has raised two batches of four baby bluebirds each summer. Early last week I saw the bluebirds checking out their house from their perch in one of Tom’s pine trees.

Baby blue birds in their nest last year

Then on Thursday I saw my worst fear. The Determined House Sparrow was on top on the bluebird house! Oh no! I have three other bluebird houses. I’m willing to let the sparrows in those houses but no, the Determined House Sparrow wants THAT bluebird house next to Tom’s fence. It ain’t going to happen.

Blue bird house next to my neighbor Tom's fence

At first I chased it away every time I saw it land on the bluebird house. But that was futile. Then I put a bucket over the house to discourage the damn sparrow. But that was only a temporary measure plus it prevented the bluebirds from using the house too.

The Determined Sparrow atop the blue bird house last year

So, I decided to do what I did last year. I would let them sort it out themselves. That’s what they did last year. I know the sparrow has a reputation for being the more aggressive the species but they did work it out last year. I think the reason the bluebirds won out because on of the bluebirds was pretty big. That one bluebird was like the Hulk Hogan of bluebirds.

The "Hulk Hogan" of blue birds guarding his blue bird nest last year

So yesterday, I took off to the 42nd Annual Kite Festival at Cape Henlopen. It was a beautiful, sunny day with lots of wind for all those colorful kites. After a morning of kite festival (and enough of the crowds) I came back home for lunch. But, before lunch I thought I would check the bluebird box to see if anyone had built a nest. As I put my forefinger in the bird box opening to bring the front down, a bird made quick exit from the hole, surprised by my invasion. As I lowered the front of the bird box I was shocked and saddened to see this: (WARNING – DO NOT LOOK IF YOU ARE SQUEMISH)

Dead swallow (pecked to death by the sparrow) in blue bird box yesterday

It was the body of a swallow that had been just pecked to death by that damn sparrow. I lifted it still warm body out of the bird box and took it to show to Bill, who was mowing the lawn on his riding mower. I wanted to show him what his “cute sparrow” had done. Bill is always sticking up for the sparrows, putting guilt trip on me every time I threw out one of their nests. Here was proof positive that this was a bird we do not want in our backyard.

With a sad heart I gently placed the limp body of the dead swallow in an empty planter on my back deck and went inside my house to have lunch.

After lunch I decided to take a trip to Milton to visit Frank the Birdman and ask him his advice.

He wasn’t at home. His wife told me he was out on a job. I told her my problem with the sparrows and asked her what Frank does to discourage the house sparrows. Frank has several purple martin houses in his yard which are always populated by a very noisy colony of purple martins throughout the spring and summer.

She went to a shed and opened the door and pulled out a cartridge of gold colored copper tipped bullets neatly arranged in a even row. She told me he shoots them with a 22! She assured me that shooting the 22 “didn’t make much noise.” Oh, well…..okay. Well, now let’s see. First I don’t have a gun. I told her that I didn’t have one which surprised her. Uh……okay. Another thing, I will never have a gun. The last time I fired a bullet was when I was in the Army during my annual qualification at the rifle range in 1962. My father was a lifelong hunter. None of his three sons were hunters. My brothers were also in the Army and fired rifles but none of us ever possessed the desire or need to have a gun. And I wasn’t about to start. Running through my mind at this time was a visual of me firing a Twenty-two from my back deck at my bluebird house. I’m sure my neighbor Tom and his wife Shannon would appreciate that especially since they have a couple of dogs who use their back yard and a two year old daughter. Talk about your Neighbor From Hell. I told Frank’s wife I would seek another solution to my sparrow problem.

This is NOT a picture of me firing a gun

Now what was really unusual about yesterday was the location where I was talking to the Birdman’s wife was only one road away from an actual murder that took place this past winter. The body was just discovered last week in the backyard of a singlewide trailer. It was under a blue tarp. Police suspect the badly decomposed remains were the son of the man who lived in the singlewide, his father. The police arrested the father on suspicion of shooting his son. So here I am yesterday, being given advice to use a Twenty-Two to get rid of a murderous sparrow. Do you not see the irony?

Michael Hudson, the arrested father suspected of shooting his son

Spencer Ashing, the suspected deceased son who decompsing remains were found under a tarp in the back yard of Michael Hudson

I taped the entrance to the bluebird box closed. The murdering sparrow was out there today pecking away at the blue painter’s masking tape. I went out and taped it about six more times. I think they gave up (they never actually give up) and began building their nest in one of the other bluebird boxes.

The taped entrance to the blue bird box this morning

My plan now is to let them build that nest. That should keep they occupied. Once they’re well on their way to building their nest I’ll take the blue tape off of the entrance to the prime blue bird box so the returning blue birds can use it to start their family.

Four blue bird eggs June 17, 2009 (the second batch)

The sparrows will never raise their family in my backyard in my bird houses. Once they build that nest and lay their eggs I will take that nest (and eggs) out. There were no sparrows raised on my property last year and there won’t be this year either. I don’t care how “cute” they are. There was nothing “cute” about that dead swallow.

A lone swallow from last summer keeping watch over my back yard