Small sparrows can create big issues. Their droppings carry harmful pathogens. Their nests are storehouse for parasites. In some cases, these little birds can make fire accidents. Surprisingly, they kill many native birds, especially eastern bluebirds.
The biggest question is how to get rid of sparrows from your garden. Unfortunately, it’s a bit unrealistic to get rid of these annoying birds entirely. But, here’s the good news. After researching for a long time, we’ve find out some effective ways of getting rid of them.
Now, we’re going to tell you how you can prevent these annoying birds. Apart from that, we’re going to discuss some frequently asked questions later in this article. You can also read our latest articles on what sparrows eat and the ways of attracting them.
Related Blogs:How Long Do Sparrows Live? [Read here]What Do Sparrows Eat? [Read here]
How Can You Get Rid of Sparrows?
Getting rid of sparrows could be a daunting task. It requires a variety of methods to reduce their populations. You’ll need to buy a few repellents as well. For your convenience, we’ve come up with 4 useful methods of getting rid of annoying sparrows.
Method – 1: Prevention
Getting rid of sparrows requires useful preventive measures. They include using bird traps, excluding them with netting, applying bird repellent gel, and preventing them from re-infestation. Let’s talk about the points in detail.
#1. Use Bird Traps
Using bird traps helps you get rid of sparrows. But, the question is what to do with them once you catch them. Drive a long way from your home and leave them. For your information, sparrows usually don’t go 5 miles away from their nests for searching for foods.
Believe it or not, specifically-designed bird traps, like the Bird B Gone Trap from Amazon, can catch multiple sparrows at once. When you’re going to buy one, make sure that your bird traps are escape-proof and can be used again and again.
Beside, house sparrows kill many native birds, like bluebirds trapped in a nest box. That’s why it’s legal to kill sparrows in the United States under federal law. However, we don’t support killing sparrows with firearms. We suggest euthanizing them humanely.
#2. Install Bird Netting
If you want to deter sparrows in the roof or from making nests, you can install specifically-designed bird netting that covers your flower beds, veggie garden, and fruit trees. Bird netting also discourage sparrows to make nests in vents, cavities, pipes, or chimney in your yard.
For this purpose, we recommend buying the Green Anti Bird Protection Net from Amazon. It’s made of high-quality polyethylene. Most importantly, it’s non-toxic and going to leave your house walls unmarked. Your yard will be perfectly sealed.
If you install bird netting, you won’t need to bother with removing a sparrow nest. However, if you spot a nest before bird netting installation, remove it as soon as possible. You can read our article on getting rid of bird nests from backyard.
Related blog: You can read about “How To Attract Sparrows” [Read here] and “How To Attract Finches” [Read here]
#3. Apply Bird Repellent Gel
Another way to repelling sparrows from your yard is applying bird repellent gel. If you use it directly on window sills, house ledges, roof edges, awnings, and anywhere sparrows might perch on, they can prevent them from nesting in your yard.
For this purpose, we suggest buying the Bird-X Proof Bird Repellent Gel from Amazon. This non-toxic, sticky transparent gel is ideal not only for sparrows but also starlings, pigeons, and other songbirds. Cover your mouth, nose, and hands before applying the gel.
#4. Prevent Sparrow Re-infestation
Once you’ve applied the above-mentioned methods to prevent sparrows from your yard, you have to make sure that they don’t come to your yard again. In this regard, you can put insecticide in your yard to discourage sparrows for future invasions.
We recommend you use the Demon Max Insecticide from Amazon. It controls outdoor pests, like ants, fleas, and cockroaches. Consequently, sparrows won’t find any food source in your yard. They will move to somewhere else for searching for foods.
Method – 2: Frightening
If you want to deter sparrows from your yard by frightening them, several effective ways are out there. Frightening could be installing predator decoys, using electronic distress sounds, placing motion-activated sprinklers, and scaring with reflective objects.
#1. Install Predator Decoys
The best way to frighten sparrows is installing predator decoys in your yard. You need to place owl and hawk decoys that move with the wind so that the sparrows consider them as real birds of prey. You can also use predator decoy kites to frighten these little birds.
In this regard, we recommend buying the Easy Gardener Owl Decoy and the Bird B Gone Hawk Decoy (both links take you to Amazon). If you’re willing to install a predator decoy kite, the Xinrimoy Bird Repelling Eagle Kite on Amazon could be what you’re actually looking for.
Keep in mind that sparrows are smart birds. They don’t feel like the decoys alive if you set them at a specific spot every day. That’s why you’ll need to move the decoys from one place to another at least twice a week.
#2. Use Electronic Distress Sounds
Bird-deterring devices, called electric bird repellers, could be quite effective in getting rid of sparrows and other annoying songbirds. They create distress sounds of predators in order to make sparrows feel that there are predators out there.
The Bird-X Electronic Bird Repeller from Amazon is highly recommended for this purpose. It creates frightening sounds of blackbirds, ravens, crows, owls, and eagles to scare away pest birds. For the best results, use several repeller devices across your yard.
#3. Place Motion-Activated Sprinklers
Another way of frightening sparrows is scaring these pest birds with water. Most songbirds, along with sparrows can be frightened by water. For that, you need to use motion-activated sprinklers. They sprinkle water whenever a sparrow comes near it.
We would like to suggest buying the Orbit Motion-Activated Sprinkler from Amazon. This black device features stable design and long battery life. It comes with both day and night detection modes. So, you can deter sparrows at night as well.
#4. Scare with Reflective Objects
Like many birds, sparrows don’t feel comfortable with reflective objects, such as reflective tape. However, its efficiency depends on where you install it. If you cover your trees with reflective tape, it will not only repel sparrows but also other birds that might attack your trees.
For your convenience, we would like to recommend you buy the Bird-X Holographic Bird Scare Tape from Amazon. You can cut this chemical-free bird control into desired strips and attach them to many trees and shrubs. It’s also usable on the roof.
Method – 3: Habitat Modification
If you’re still finding the ways of getting rid of sparrows, there is an effective method, known habitat modification. This method includes destroying sparrow eggs, reducing available shelter, eliminating nesting sites, and installing bird spikes on roosting areas.
#1. Destroy Sparrow Eggs
Destroying sparrow eggs can lead the parents to nest elsewhere. You can destroy the eggs in several ways, like infertilizing, breaking, or cooking the sparrow eggs. To infertilize the eggs, dip the eggs in corn oil and then keep them in the refrigerator for a day.
When you’re going to bring the eggs from sparrow nests, make sure to use a sturdy ladder. You should wear a mask while taking the eggs from nests because sparrow droppings contain parasites and bacteria that may cause health issues.
#2. Remove Sparrow Nests
As a part of habitat modification, you can remove sparrow nests. Once you spot a nest, remove it right away (if possible, relocate it). Consequently, frustrated sparrows will likely to choose another location to build their nests.
Another way of discouraging sparrows from your yard is plugging the entrance hole with a rubber cork so that they cannot enter the birdhouse. However, make sure to check the birdhouse whether any sparrow is inside it or not.
#3. Reduce Roosting Places
Sparrows can create shelter in many areas around your house, depriving native birds. That’s why you should reduce their roosting places. Always try to keep garage doors closed so that sparrows cannot enter the garage and make their habitat.
Don’t put out roost boxes for these little creatures. They feel interested in making nests and claim the roost boxes as their territories. You can force them to find less protected spots by scaring them in the evening. This is their best time for making nests.
#4. Install Bird Spikes
Another way of reducing roosting places for sparrows is installing bird spikes. Not only that, but bird spikes also works best for other birds, like pigeons and dogs that might leave a huge amount of dropping in your yard and on your house roof.
We have a solution for you. Use Bird B Gone Bird Spike from Amazon. This is easy to install using zip, screw, or glue on most flat and uneven surfaces. It doesn’t harm birds; just prohibit them from perching on where you install them.
Method – 4: Exclusion
You can discourage a wide variety of sparrows by not giving them appropriate foods and feeders. Don’t provide them with their favorite foods, use sparrow-proof feeders, make the feeder perch shorter, and limit water sources.
#1. Don’t Provide Sparrows with Favorite Foods
In our opinion, this is the best way of controlling sparrows. Don’t provide these little birds their favorite foods, including cracked corn, millet, wheat, and oats. Offer them safflower seeds, nyjer, and various fruits. Hopefully, they won’t be attracted to these foods.
Besides, you can fill your feeders with nectar, nuts, and suet. Although sparrows may sample these foods, they won’t gather in flocks near the feeders and therefore search for food elsewhere. Fortunately, other birds will be able to feed on your feeders.
#2. Use Sparrow-Proof Bird Feeders
To deter sparrows from your yard, you should use sparrow-proof bird feeders, like sock and tube feeders. These feeders usually have short perches that keep sparrows away feeders. But, other small birds can eat at the feeders without any hassle.
However, if your yard has feeders, chances are they invite annoying sparrows to your yard. A clinging mesh feeder could be what you actually need in this regard. Thanks to its unique design, it doesn’t allow sparrows to eat seeds and grains from it.
#3. Make the Feeder Perch Shorter
Although sparrows are ground foragers, they use a variety of bird feeders. However, they need comfortable perches when feeding on feeders. If you want to deter them from your yard, cut the perches to make them shorter using a sharp knife or a pair of scissors.
If you really need to use feeders, install sock, mesh, or tube feeders with shorter perches so that sparrows cannot comfortably take food. As sparrows are ground feeders, keep under-the-feeders clean by removing spilled seed to discourage them.
#4. Limit Water Sources
For drinking and bathing, sparrows can easily go to any birdbath. To discourage these birds from your birdbath, add uneven rocks to the basin so that sparrows cannot comfortably use it. If possible, we suggest removing the birdbath.
Instead, install drippers or small hanging water stations to allow other birds to drink water. When comparative large birds, like cardinals, chickadees, and crows come to drink water from your water stations, sparrows won’t be able to use the stations and go elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can I kill house sparrows?
Since house sparrows kill many native birds, particularly bluebirds, it’s legal to shoot, trap, and kill them according to the federal law in the United States. As these birds are not protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, you can destroy their eggs in order to control their populations. It’s recommended to hire an expert to apply any lethal method.
2. Where do house sparrows nest?
House sparrows usually nest in hollows, tree crooks, and under building eaves. These birds are very competitive with other sparrow species and songbirds, particularly bluebirds. They even kill bluebirds trapped in a nest. The males are the nest-builders, while the females are busy with their eggs.
3. What do house sparrow eggs look like?
The eggs of house sparrows look like white to bluish-green. They usually have brown or gray spots. For your information, house sparrows lay 4 to 5 eggs at once. The eggs are approximately 0.5 inches wide and 0.75 inches long.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how to get rid of sparrows, you can prevent these annoying birds from your yard. For the best results, try at least a couple of methods to deter sparrows. In our opinion, frightening could be more effective than others.
By the way, have you found anything missing that we should have included in the article? Let us know below in the comment section. You can also share with us your experience in getting rid of these little birds. Your valuable comments will always be appreciated.
