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HouseSparrow_SmartandExotic_Grantham_Jesse_RockportTX_25October2003_Reel2289.mp3

Jesse Grantham [00:00:00] I did a lot of stuff with bluebirds as a kid, you know, putting up bluebird boxes and, and watching the birds and understanding what the particular type of habitat that they wanted, and where nests would be susceptible to predators and not to predators, and then sort of moving boxes around so that they would be successful.

Jesse Grantham [00:00:20] And it was always just a personal thing to me was, you know - yeah, right, you know, when, when a bird was successful in producing young and fledging young successfully.

Jesse Grantham [00:00:31] And then later on, I just did a lot of stuff with things like purple martins and other nesting species, cavity-nesting species, manipulating them so that they would be able to produce young successfully.

Jesse Grantham [00:00:47] And I mean, at times it even meant shooting predators out - like starlings or house sparrows - and realizing that, you know, the impacts that those, those two species had on our native birds. And that as much as I disliked the fact that I had to to kill something like that, that was the only alternative, or the native species to this, to North America, weren't going to be successful.

Jesse Grantham [00:01:16] You take two species like the house sparrow and starling, which are introduced species, they have no native predators. They're extremely wily.

Jesse Grantham [00:01:24] If anybody has ever tried to experience getting rid of house sparrows or starlings, you'll soon find out that it's almost impossible to do. We have a martin house out in front of the house here, and I refuse to let house sparrows nest in that martin house. But, the interesting thing is, and you have to give credit (though I don't like to give credit to house sparrows at how smart they are). But I have shot the mate of a female house sparrow out there - her mates - probably five or six mates. And the next day she has a new mate and never gets the message that eventually it's going to be her turn if she messes up, you know.

Jesse Grantham [00:02:07] But she's smart enough to know that if she hears the door creak open, even though she's never been shot at, she's smart enough to know to get without range of the gun, you know, and she eventually won.

Jesse Grantham [00:02:21] She - I could never get her. And I never had time to actually get the nest out of the box. And so, she actually did fledge some young. She was smart enough to just continue on avoiding me.