Sparrows Sparrows and MORE Sparrows

[Mr. Loud Guns]

Up here in New York we don't have snake problems or wild game we have pesky little varmints and SPARROWS. If you are unfamiliar with them they are these little birds that make there nests in your gutters and crap all over your patio. Due to all the pleasant weather we have had in New York lately more and more of these little brids keep coming. They are a pain in the ass. Considering that there are houses all around me I can't really go out with a rifle and start blowing there heads off and bb guns are just not powerful enough. I could buy on of those magnum pellet guns but they cost more than alot of my REAL rifles. If any one else has this problem and can lend me a hand it would be very helpful.

 

[Rabbi]

You can get a terrific value in a Crosman pellet rifle for about 40 bucks and hang a fifteen dollar 4x Wal-Mart scope on it. It can be pumped up five or six times, hit about 700-750 fps and kill any sparrow on Earth easily. Unless you give it ten pumps or so, the Crosmans are quite quiet, too. Mine is fifteen years old and if you keep the rubber piston washer oiled once a year or so, they won't get dry rot and shrink.

Leave about eight or ten dead sparrows laying around (a decent distance from the house) and it acts as a further deterrent.

 

[DigMe]

We have swallows down here. The dang things make nests up on our porch right next to our front door. I'm thinking about trying one of those plastic owls for next season. It's supposed to scare away birds. Anyone tried them?

brad cook

 

[Battlespace]

bb guns are just not powerful enough.

You must have a mouse bb gun. In the late 1950's I was paid a penny each for sparrows raiding our livestock feed or any grain spilled on the ground. I used a plain old Daisy BB gun that sold for less than $5.00 at Coast to Coast. I didn't even have a Red Ryder, just the cheap model.

 

[sm]

Reload shotshells with popcorn kernals. We call these popcorn loads.

Works great inside barns, warehouses, picinic pavillions,...etc.

Naturally one has to be in firearm legal area, observe 4 rules and such. Still even the .410 single shot loaded with popcorn loads is a great nuisance loading.

 

[Matt G]

A Crossman 760 pump pellet/BB gun in .177 is more than adequate for sparrows (both African and European), and swallows, and even squirrels if you hit 'em right. They'll propel a 7 to 9 grain pellet up to around 700 fps, and with the rifled barrel, they're quite accurate. Cost is ~$30. I've shot many a grackle, starling, squirrel, and crow with 'em. NOTE: for crows, a headshot is required.

 

[Sharps Shooter]

DigMe

Yep! Don't waste your money. We bought one of those $9.00 plastic owls from WalMart to keep the sparrows out of our berry patch this spring. The sparrows built a nest in it's base! We've gone back to our Benjamin pellet rifle - 6 pumps will put a .22 caliber pellet clear through a sparrow at 30 yards.

 

[DigMe]

Damn...there goes my only good idea. I don't think a pellet gun would be that great of a solution for me because of location and whatnot.

brad cook

 

[Mr. Loud Guns]

Thanks guys I am going to buy a BETTER pellet gun tommorow. For thirty dollars I think it will be a real help. I just have to definetly see BEYOND my target or I will be paying for my nieghbors window :banghead:

 

[stevelyn]

Super Colibris.

 

[JohnKSa]

could buy on of those magnum pellet guns

You don't need a magnum pellet gun for sparrows. Just about anything that will shoot a pellet accurately out to 15 yards or so will do the trick. Friend of mine uses one of the "Biathlon Trainers" that Marksman used to sell on sparrows. This was awhile ago, but it cost him around $50. Accurate but with a muzzle velocity of less than 500fps. Killed a LOT of sparrows with it.

What a lot of people don't realize about with airguns is that the lower the power the quieter and safer they are. In fact, if you stop and think about it, an airgun gets better for all the things an airgun is REALLY good for as the power drops. Somewhere around 500-600fps is perfect for an "Urban Hunter" airgun.

 

[Sunray]

"...one of those $9.00 plastic owls..." That doesn't move becomes a finial. A bunch of pie plates hung in pairs on a string may help. Noise and movement.

 

[BeLikeTrey]

They do have owls that have some hair/feathers

they bristle and move in wind ... seem to work...

dont forget to hone skills with a blow gun or a wrist rocket/ slingshot

 

[tuna]

Firecrackers? Maybe not legal / not safe for tossing on roof....
Paintball gun? Neighbors may think it's real....
Slingshot? Watch the windows....
Paintballs from a slingshot? Get a hose to wash it off later, but can't think of a real problem.
Air horn? Hope your neighbor plays his stereo loud so you've got some payback....
CDs from AOL and other places that give them free? Light and motion work pretty good, just makes your place look like a disco ball...
Double sided tape? They won't land where it's sticky I've heard but never tried.

 

[Mr. Loud Guns]

Mmmmmmmmmm, tuna fish. (drooling)

 

[Red Tornado]

I'm like Battlespace, my cheap single pump BB gun took out lots of sparrows back in the day.

I haven't tried the plastic owls, but I did hang up a plastic snake (about $1) and had pretty good results with it. YMMV
RT

 

[Rupestris]

(both African and European) swallows

Right, but African swallows are non-migratory.

 

[Sharps Shooter]

My Mom uses some stuff called "Bird Scare Tape" and she says it works pretty well to keep the birds out of her grapes. It's about 3" wide, aluminum (I think) and very thin. She just runs it along the top of the fence and puts a few twists in it. It rattles and flashes with the slightest breeze. I'm going to have her get me a roll of it. I haven't been able to find it around here.

 

[sturmruger]

Another vote for the Crossman

When I was growing up I had to settle for a Crossman 760 until I was 12 years old. I shot every varmint within 500 yards of our house with that Bb gun. My mom finally warned me not to shoot anymore chipmunks becuase she liked watching them in the yard. I still want to get a nice .22 pellet gun just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[GunGoBoom]

ENGLISH sparrows are considered a nuisance and therefore legal to shoot, if I'm not mistaken - you have to carefully identify them before shooting - study pictures on the net. As for other birds, be careful - there's something like 800 or 900 species on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act list, including a ton of common species which you may not think are migratory, including the great-tailed grackle, which are more common around here than blades of grass - massive infestation.

http://www.avianweb.com/sparrows.htm

http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/intrnltr/mbta/mbtandx.html#a

If you kill a bird on that list accidentally, shoot shovel and shut up, as they say. Notably, English Sparrows and European Starlings are not on the list, but other "infestatory" species are.

Oh, my $55 from Academy, Crosman RM377 is the best value in airguns I've ever bought - it's a break barrel springer, advertised at 825 fps in .177 - with Lynx rings and a Bushnell Banner 4-12x40mm AO on it, I am deadly accurate with RWS Superdomes. More accurate than super colibris out of a .22, almost as quiet, and correct, you don't need or want the overpenetration of a magnum (900+ fps) airgun when shooting little birds. 600-700 is ideal, but 800 will work, and so will 500.

Right, owls and snakes don't work. If you move them every week, they'll work for awhile, but eventually will quit working. Things that move with the wind eventually quit working as well in my experience. Best remedy is shooting them - some are good eatin' (feral rock doves).

 

[EVIL5LITER]

Whatever you do, don't put up coconuts. They seem to attract the swallows. In pairs.

 

[Browns Fan]

You may want to check to see if you live in a bird sanctuary, you may get in troubleif your neighbors see you shooting birds, even sparrows. If this is the case you may want to get up early on a day off to do some pest control in stealth mode.

 

[Mr. Loud Guns]

Thanks guys, I bought a more powerful pellet gun and I have been raking them in by the dozens. One morning I got up grabbedmy pellet gun and hung out the bathroom window for about twenty minutes and "got rid of" about 5 or 6 of the pests. I have even began cutting down on the rats that occasionally get into our garbage.

 

[tuna]

Get a bird feeder, specifically the combination bird / cat feeder recommended by Tim Allen in his comedy routine, put the feeder 18 inches off the ground.