PREVENTING SPARROWS AT YOUR FEEDERS

By Terry Anne Suchma

I am going to tell you something that you will find skeptical. And, it is a good news and bad news thing!

The good news first! You can keep sparrows away from your birdfeeders! Bad news further into my article.

How?

A while back, I was speaking with a bird friend, also an avid bluebirder, Frank Navratil, of North Riverside, IL. During our conversation, Frank related to me about his article in Illinois Audubon regarding keeping the aggressive birdseed hogs, the House Sparrows, from our feeders. I said, "You know, Frank, I heard about this about five years ago, and several people in my circle of birding folks and mentors pooh-poohed it as birding quackery and nonsense."

And for five years, I heard nothing else about this until my conversation with Frank Navratil last July.  Originally, I had read about a Midwestern biologist, Ron Johnson, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ron, and two or three other erudite fellows, authored three articles that appeared in the premier ornithological publication, The Wilson Society Bulletin, in 1991, 1993 and 1994. And since Ron is a Professor of Biology at University of Nebraska- Lincoln, the University has also published his thoughts through their Cooperative Agricultural Extension program and literature. It appears on the Web at:  http://mnrwww.tud.edu/pubstwfldffe/gl332.htrn

In experiments to prove this sparrow- repelling theory, Ron and his associates used a pole-mounted hopper feeder with a metal halo installed above the feeder. Monofilament lines hang from the halo and are spaced at 60 cm apart.

To make a long story and experiment short to fit this column's confines, Ron John son found that House Sparrows were repelled from this halo apparatus. After the Navratil conversation, my husband, Ed, eagerly as sembled the Suchma prototype from a old lampshade halo, a 30" threadrod, monofilament lines and a 12" plastic plant saucer.

I know that you are thinking. My husband and I are two looney tunes here! But, stay with me!

In July, there are zillions of House Spar rows, or so it seems. Mid-summer demonstrates the prolific reproductive fruits of the season's sparrow successes. There are many sparrows because there were so many House Sparrow juveniles present at this time. And, these packs of young sparrows are quite ravenous for food-any kind of food.

So, in our initial moments of observation, we found the adult House Sparrows were leery of the feeder with the strange lines. But, after an hour, or so, we did see sparrows in the seed tray. Lots of sparrows! Tons of sparrows!  All cavorting and pigging out on our seeds! These were the juveniles.

In our next conversation, Frank urged us to be patient and continue with our amateur experiment. And, he was right! The juvenile sparrows seemed to disperse as I no longer saw any sparrows in this pan/feeding dish cum halo. My husband and I were quite impressed. Every day, we looked, but we saw no spar rows!

I took this feeding saucer, monofilament lines, halo and all to the PMSNA Fall Meeting in late September, where I, too, was looked at with suspect and mistrust. However, there were individuals who took this at my humble word and were very interested.

It is now mid-November, as I write, and I still have not seen one sparrow in this feeding dish. The dish, originally for my fair-feathered favorites, the cardinals, no longer appealed to the cardinals. Yes, there were other birds re pelled by this design. House Finches frolicked inside the tray, the Mourning Doves held court in and around the tray's rim; Black-Capped Chickadees gingerly rode the thread- rod down to the motherload of seeds at the bottom of the tray; and the few Red-Breasted Nuthatches brazenly jumped right in the fray-I mean tray. I have seen a goldfinch, or two, feeding in the tray. Other species, like the car- dinals, were also repelled. Bluejays and Juncos also did not go near. It does not, however, deter either the squirrels or chipmunks-sorry to say.

Now, the bad news!

It is a great concept and I wondered, "Could we translate this to the PM interest?" But, after reading some of the Wilson Bulletin info and speaking to Ron Johnson, himself, the answer is apparently "NO

"Why is that, you ask?"

If used on an Eastern Bluebird or Purple Mar tin House, there may be a temporary sparrow repelling, but the very strong natural instinct to nest and breed overcomes a sparrow's initial fears of the monofilament lines and/or halo, and unfortunately, the sparrows go inside the houses.

So, the good news is that you can use this idea to repel sparrows from your birdfeeders, but it does not translate to the PM interest for US.

Try this monofilament idea out this winter with one of your feeders and let Ron, Frank and me know what happens.

There is a commercial halo on the market for just this purpose. It is called The Magic Halo (800) 606-2553 and is sold by The Wild Bird Habitat Store. Mine cost me nothing but an old lamp halo, a threaded rod and some fishing line.

Terry Anne Suchma is the Executive Director of The Purple Martin Society, NA and the Editor of The Scout Report Online.

The Scout Report appreciates feedback on any of its articles.  info@purplemartins.com