box trap

I put one of my box traps out last night on a post to let it "pretend" it's a birdhouse. Caught one female sparrow this morning. They don't survive trauma very well. She'd only been in the trap about 20 or 30 minutes, and when I took her out, she died about five minutes later.

But, while I was out checking and cleaning my trail, a male sparrow got in the box trap. When I took him out, he was still very much alive. I put him in my repeater with food and water. Hopefully he'll draw more in. I'm going to put a large shelf on the outside wall of my shed so I can put the trap, off the ground, on it, and see if they come to it any better.

And, I saw several bluebirds while checking my boxes!

Sounds like a winner all around!

Alright! Great to hear about the HOSPs and the bluebirds. I just wanted to make sure that you clipped the male HOSP's wings so that nothing happens. You don't want to risk them getting away!

No worries there. I've only had one or two get away. I've learned my lesson(s). If I'm in the field, I have a large trash bag with me to put the trap into. Then I open it. If the bird gets out, it only ends up trapped again in the trash bag where I can identify it, and either release or destroy.