superlin Van ERT Universal Sparrow Trap

The sparrow trap is a tool to eliminate non-native invasive sparrows from Blue Bird nest boxes. Sparrows are not a native bird to the US. They are invasive and regarded as vermin, alongside other pests such as rats. Their presence is a detriment to establishing a blue bird population; something I am passionate about. If you don’t have the ability or need to eliminate sparrows, this is not for you. The Sparrow trap is just like a mouse trap except it is a live capture device designed to be triggered by a sparrow after it enters a nest box. It does this well. To mount this device you need only one screw. That screw I recommend using is located with a pilot drill of. 7/64 inch diameter I then use a No. 6 x 1/2" Stainless Steel Truss Head Phillips Wood Screw. The screw head diameter is smaller than the key hole of the trap, see pictures, thus once the screw is installed the trap can be both installed and removed by only tighten or loosening the screw a half turn. Picture one shows the sparrow trap mounted to the door of the Bluebird house (note the trap shutter covers the bird house door). When loosened, the trap can slide down till the screw is at the keyhole, and then lifted off without removing the screw. Picture two shows the mounted sparrow trap cocked and ready for action I have placed a colored piece of paper in front of a 040-inch latch pin so you can see it. When the door is closed, the trap will be tripped once the sparrow enters and drops to the floor (touching the .060-inch wire attached to the trigger). Picture three shows the bird house entry with the sparrow trap triggered, (the bird captured) note the orange signal dot so that you can see from a distance when the trap is closed. Trapping the sparrow in the bird box is only the first step. Next is the task I take no pleasure from. I place a 13 Gallon, tall garbage bag over the bird box and tighten the drawstrings. The bird will fly down and out if you don’t then open the door to the house and captured in the bag were you can correctly identify it.

Work great for House Sparrows in my bluebird houses. Please Be sure you ID the bird going in and immediately confirm the ID so that you don’t catch a desirable songbird. I regularly have bluebirds, house wrens and even chickadees in my houses. I close the traps if I am not able to check them every 5 or 10 minutes or so. Very easy to install and remove. I leave the screws in the house for the next time I need them.

A great solution for removing unwanted birds from my blue bird boxes. Definitely recommend this if you have trouble with house sparrows taking over your boxes.

I put mounting screws in each of the 3 birdhouses I have. This year I also installed cameras to monitor the birdhouses. Bluebirds have started building a nest in one of them. Another pair of bluebirds and a carolina chickadee are each checking out both of the other houses. A HOSP went into one of the houses prior to that, and before I had the mounting screws in place. Now I am ready for the HOSP to come back. But for whatever reason I am only seeing a couple of HOSPs around the feeders anymore, and none have been picked up on the camera recordings since them. Maybe they are waiting for the birds to lay eggs. I am ready to put the trap in as soon as I see them around the houses. But I won't be disappointed with my purchase if I don't need to use it.

I'm an incredibly UN-handy person, so I was worried that this might be above my pay grade to actually install in my Bluebird boxes. But, fear not! It's super easy. As soon as I installed it, I had trapped a House Sparrow within 30 minutes of putting the Bluebird box out. It worked so well, I ordered a second for my box out back. I only put the trap in when I see a House Sparrow either hanging out at the nest box, or exiting it. I have two types of Blue Bird boxes, the traditional and the one with a slot opening. The trap worked in both.

This is conceptually similar to a rat trap but instead of the spring activating the bar that delivers the killing stroke, the spring sets off a door that blocks the entrance hole. Successfully trapped more than one invasive, predatory house sparrow. Don’t relocate them, doesn’t fix the issue. They simply have to go. Harsh but they kill bluebirds and other native birds. I had to bend up the small bar holding the door when the trap is set, as it was too easily set off, but that was minor. Good trap overall, just a little expensive for a simple device.

An item that lives up to its claim. I placed this in my bluebird house and within minutes, the invasive sparrow was trapped. The sparrow trap is extremely easy to install on the door of the bird house and can be removed from the bird house just as easily after it is used. Installation and removal can be done any number of times because the two screws holding the trap in place can remain behind when the trap is removed. Great product that will take care of the problem quickly.

If you are actively providing Blue Birds with housing this Van Ert live trap is a must. House sparrows will constantly try to take over the Blue Birds houses and will kill the Blue Birds and destroy the eggs. What I do is provide older houses for the house sparrows to take over and let them build their nests,that way they will leave the active blue birds alone. Then once the House Sparrows are comfortable you then add the Van Ert live trap and trap the sparrow before they are able to hatch their eggs. You then decide for yourself how you want to dispatch the House Sparrows, they cannot cohabitate house sparrows are raiders.