Discourage starlings from nesting without bothering other birds

October 21, 2019 5:50 AM

There used to be a family of mossies (Cape Sparrows, indigenous to where I live here in Cape Town) nesting under the eaves of my house. Recently some European starlings moved in, kicked out the mossies' nest, and started building their own.

Mossies aren't particularly endangered but I like them, and while I respect the gumption of the starlings, I don't want them living in my roof.
I made sure there were no eggs yet and removed the starlings' nests, sealed up the gaps under the roof with chicken wire. I hope the starlings can no longer nest there.
My question: I'm thinking of putting up a nesting box that can be opened so I can clean out any attempts at starling nests, hoping the mossies will come back. Is that likely to work with European starlings? Anyone had experience with how to get a particular species to choose a nesting box, rather than another? I've checked, and there are no laws in the area that make it illegal for me to interfere with European starling nests.

I'd like the mossies to come back. I love watching them raise their babies.
Can you imagine minding a toddler that can fly? One of the baby-mossies once flew into my kitchen and stayed there, bipping about happily while its father perched in the door frantically tweeting at it to get out. When the little baby-mossie bumble-flew out of the door at last, the father went directly to my nectar feeder and had a long, long drink of sugar water.

posted by Zumbador to Science & Nature (1 answer total)

Best answer: I'm not familiar with Cape Sparrows, but here in California we exclude starlings from nest boxes by restricting the size of the hole--Starlings are bigger than many of our native cavity nesters. They can't fit through an aperture smaller than 38mm.
More tips here.
posted by agentofselection at 11:23 AM on October 21, 2019 [3 favorites]