Best House Sparrow Traps On the Market

*This video is for North American songbird conservation purposes*
If you're considering trapping house sparrows and are wondering what the best house sparrow traps are to use, we have two recommendations. We also point out which situations determine which trap to choose.
You can find the Van Ert trap, which is discussed in this video at www.vanerttraps.com
When using a Van Ert house sparrow trap, or any trap for that matter, it is critical you follow important safety precautions. This video goes into great detail about important safety factors that will protect the lives of native birds. • Van Ert Trap BIRD SAFE...
And the repeating elevator trap that so many rely on is found at www.sparrowtraps.net.
If you are interested in making a repeating elevator trap, this is a great two-part tutorial: • How to build a sparrow...
For more resources, visit our playlist for managing house sparrows:
• Invasive Sparrows and ...
We continually add to this playlist. It has information about how to identify house sparrows, safety procedures, trapping optimization and why it is necessary to trap.
If you're wondering what you do after you trap a house sparrow, here is a resource dedicated to this:
nesthollow.com....
Nest Hollow continues to provide information about North American backyard bird conservation. To learn how to be an amazing steward of the birds and wildlife of your backyard, visit www.nesthollow.com
Thank you all for your amazing support.

[@suerichardson1289]

I had a male HOSP move into a wren box yesterday. The wrens have been building their nest and thankfully weren’t in the box at the time. I had no choice but to remove the wren nest and put in my Van Ert trap. Within minutes I had the male and put him in my elevator trap and within minutes his mate was in there with him. I’ve modified the elevator trap with a box on the side and food and water. Today there were five HOSP total. I used your blow method to dispatch two of the sparrows. This is the first time for me and it wasn’t as horrible as I thought. Definitely not something I look forward to but it has to be done for the sake of our native birds. Thank you for the information you have shared!

[@nesthollow5159]

That's a great success story right there. For further wren protection, see if you can get a 1-1/8 inch hole reducer on the nest box. A hole reducer can be found at wild bird shops or on Amazon. This size generally excludes house sparrows (on rare occasions, a skinny house sparrow can get through, but it's very rare). I'm pretty sure the wrens will build again. I've had Eurasian tree sparrows evict a house wren. Just like you said, the inactive nest has to be removed for the van ert trap to go in. But once it was caught, the wren went back to building. I'm glad to hear the blow method worked for you. It's certainly intimidating at first, but it gets a little easier over time. I never like doing it, but remembering "why" helps.

[@knitchywa]

What do you do in the case of trapping a house sparrow and a native bird together in the ground trap? How do you get the native bird out without the sparrow escaping?

[@OlTrailDog]

I just finished up building my elevator trap. Looks like I will be picking up a vanert trap to supplement it and the pellet gun target practice.

[@crmark21]

I have had great success with the repeating elevator trap, catching hundreds of HOSP. I attached a shelterbox so they could live longer and attract more birds, but it didn't seem to help much. It is a constant battle, but I highly recommed the repeating elevator trap. I watch them get caught one after another!!!

[@Javaman92]

I've been watching your entire series on this. I imagine that some of these videos were difficult for you. Thanks for doing it anyways.

[@nesthollow5159]

Thank you very much. And I appreciate you watching the series because it sounds like you'll have a good understanding when it comes to trapping and protecting native birds. I try very hard to stay compassionate and not hate house sparrows and starlings. This isn't their fault. And it makes managing them even harder. I am glad that it is a difficult thing. I think managing life is an incredible responsibility, and the thought of taking a life to protect other life... that's another big responsibility. Take care, and good luck with all of it. Keep your questions coming. I am hoping to be making more videos soon. I took the off-season off. Now that stuff is picking back up, it's time to get back to it :)

[@jungleking007Channel]

The repeating traps do work. Most I've caught in an 8 hour period was around 40. I think the stars aligned just right and the group was very social. Wish i had a timelapse going because it was just one after the other going in! Keep an eye on the trap but limit interacting with it too much. The older birds will catch on pretty quick if you keep coming back and see thier friends disappear. Millet and cracked corn seem to be choice in my area. White bread seems to work as well in attracting hosps. I had at one point a major issue with mourning doves getting in, but was able to add some long screws in the entrance path to keep thier wide bodies out.

[@rosarioroberto5823]

Greetings, As always another fantastic detailed video 🇺🇸🎉🍾🇺🇸 Would you provide me with the link to purchase the house sparrow elevator trap. Thank you so much for assisting me.

[@nesthollow5159]

Thank you! Here is a direct link to the sparrow trap I have. They have another with a roost box too sparrowtraps.net/store/?model_number=DRST

[@randalllunger6351]

Excellent video. Very helpful. My bluebirds and tree swallows will thank you.

[@suerichardson1289]

@knitchywa I built a box to attach to the outside of the ground trap. Drilled a two inch hole in the box and cut a hole in the wire mesh. When I approach the trap the HOSP retreats into the box and then I open the door and the native bird flies out.

[@nesthollow5159]

That's awesome. That makes it super easy. I usually just have to fish the native bird out. Then I'm always saying "it's ok, you're going free" but it can't understand me, lol

[@Javaman92]

I have a question. I'm thinking that I can get one of those mesh laundry bags they have at Walmart to catch the house sparrows in. I can't imagine why that wouldn't work. Right? I hope all is well with you.

[@nesthollow5159]

I use those to grab them out of the trap. If you find a way to rig up thr bag as a trap, definitely let me know. That would be interesting.

[@Javaman92]

@@nesthollow5159To be honest, that is what I meant. I see that the trap site had mesh bags for the birds but they were a lot more expensive than those for laundry. But I will share my experiments with you if and when I do something!

[@GreenPatriot2024]

I used bread for the elevator trap and disposed of 200 sparrows the first year. Native birds aren't bread eaters like sparrows, so I never had any native birds getting trapped.

[@nesthollow5159]

200! Way to go! I've had a little carolina wren and junco get tempted by bread. But it was colder out. Bread and goldfish crackers though are still my go-tos because like you said - most of the native birds aren't into people food like the house sparrows are.

[@GreenPatriot2024]

@@nesthollow5159 What motivated me to trap sparrows was I had a bird house with 2 parents and 5 baby Chickadees that were brutally murdered by a male sparrow. Over the last 8 years, I've eliminated close to 700 of these vermin. Now I only have 10 to 20 sparrows per year that get trapped due to the dramatic drop in their population. It would be great if more people would do this, especially nation wide.

[@jB-ow5qi]

I just purchased TS 2 trap. I have a small yard and trying to be discreet. I caught one the other day. I reset the trap and nothing after a few hours of resetting. Any idea if these traps work? Im totally overwhelmed with these birds. The bluebirds haven't come back to feed 😢. I saw 3 male sparrows on my fence and loads of females. I dont know why they are here I've been here 6 years and never had this problem. Its like they came out of nowhere. Not sure if maybe the Canada fires have pushed them out this way. Im trying to only feed safflower for cardinals but these birds will eat anything theyre evil. I also have log feeders for the woodpeckers that are hung up vertically. The bluebirds had been coming to feed from them. The male hosp drove them off and now is able to flutter enough to grab some bark butter from the verticle feeders!

[@nesthollow5159]

They can get really smart about traps, and that can pose a huge challenge. You might be right about the fires. Thats probably displaced a lot if animals. The other element is that there are probably juveniles in the mix looking for easy snacks. I've noticed this in my area, mainly with Eurasian tree sparrows (house sparrow cousin). One thing to try is taking down all feeders and only baiting the trap to lure them there. I ran into the same issue last year - having a feeder, even with just safflower while trying to trap didn't work. So I took the feeders down and just set traps with food. When doing this, just be sure to monitor very close because you could catch a native bird. I check traps every 15-30 minutes depending on weather. Extreme weather means more frequent checks. Bread and Goldfish crackers reduce the risk of catching native birds, but I would get a carolina wren on occasion.

[@jB-ow5qi]

The males appear to be extremely clever. I'm so devastated I feel they've overun my yard. I also have a van Ert birdhouse trap. I havent tried it yet. But between both traps i should have success. Thanks for the tips I will try that.

[@nesthollow5159]

@@jB-ow5qi pairing the van ert with a funnel or repeater trap can help. If you catch one in the nest box, you can use it as bait in the funnel or elevator traps. Nesting season is a tough time for mass trapping. I'm sorry it has been so frustrating. Come fall, it might get easier.

[@jB-ow5qi]

Oh good so there's hope!

[@redshot1015]

I have nothing but house sparrow..

[@nesthollow5159]

Sometimes changing seed can help. If you're in a more urban area, it's really hard to manage it. But to start, try only using black oil sunflower seed and safflower seed. They'll still eat it, but they don't like it as much.

[@nl4064]

eat the sparrows and its a win win

[@nesthollow5159]

Ehh not with the diseases. But there are old historic recipes for sparrow pie and other sparrow dishes.

[@szilardfineascovasa6144]

This one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpOapGRpjcujo8ksi=yZPlneeUhBuZjrFj improved with the same transparebt flap that just lets the bird in and not the other way around should work just as well as the elevator one. I used a self-built elevator trap and it is fantastic.

[@johnm.capers8280]

I have a demon sparrow fiercely guarding her nest, preventing me from mowing my lawn. I'm tired of her, I don't want to hurt her but I don't want to hurt myself..

[@nesthollow5159]

Oh wow! I haven't really heard of that with a house sparrow - that's crazy! And, what's nuts is how they nest in such urban areas too. She must be a super stressed bird.

[@farmerdude3578]

You are beautiful.