Van ERT Universal Sparrow Trap

This trap very quickly captured two elusive male house sparrows in my yard. We have two bluebird boxes. One had been taken over by house sparrows, who built nests and started laying eggs. I removed their nest and destroying the eggs every two or three days for several weeks, but they just wouldn’t give up. I managed to capture two females simply by sneaking up on the house and covering the opening with my hand and reaching inside to grab them. But the males were much more wary, and I was never able to catch one. They stuck around and kept the bluebirds from nesting even without any female sparrows. So I bought this trap. I cleaned out the sparrow nest from house #1 and set the trap. Within five minutes one of the males had gone inside, I assume to inspect the nest, having seen it tampered with. He was trapped. I actually was not able to catch him, but he has not come back for about four days now. I think he was pretty terrified at the big monster hand grabbing at him. I have seen no more house sparrows at that house now for about four days, which is the longest period I have seen without sparrow activity at that house. As for house number two, bluebirds had built a perfect, beautiful cup nest, but a male house sparrow kept bullying them away from the box. So I carefully removed the nest (because the trap won’t work with a nest in place) and set it in a cardboard box to preserve its shape. I set the trap. Again, within five minutes, the male house sparrow had gone inside to assess the nest, and he was trapped. I was able to catch him and he was “relocated”, so to speak. I was able to replace the bluebird nest in the box with very little damage as far as I can tell, so hopefully the bluebirds can return home with minimal extra work. This trap has performed perfectly so far, and has done exactly what it’s meant to do. I love that it’s a humane trap so I don’t have to worry about accidentally killing native birds. I also love that it is designed such that you can set mounting screws in multiple houses and use the trap as needed in the house with the problem. I feel that even if you have more than two houses like me, one trap will work effectively. I’ve had no need to leave the trap in one house more than a few minutes, which avoids trapping a bird to die from thirst or starvation. Having trapped two house sparrows, I do think this may be a winning recipe: remove the existing nest, immediately set the trap (takes 5 seconds if you have the mounting screws in place already), walk away and watch for the red spot to appear. For me it’s been 100% effective within about five minutes both times. I hope to see the bluebirds raising young here again within a few weeks. Edit late Aug ‘25: rating remains 5 stars. I’ve lost count of the successful house sparrow captures so far, but I think it’s around 6 or 7. Our 2 houses have hosted several successful bluebird broods this spring and summer and no successful house sparrow broods as far as I can tell. This trap has made a critical difference in our yard; we seem able to consistently deny house sparrows fertile shelter while ensuring it for the bluebirds.

Very effective when installed properly. We have bluebirds in the backyard this year - have not seen them so "plentiful" before. But sparrows are invasive, flying rats. Great - comes with a couple of sets of screws so you can install/move the trap easily between different birdhouses. Wish that there was an option to get more sets of screws when you buy it, but I guess a trip to the hardware store will fix that. On houses that have the main door clean-out front or back, it is easy enough to install. On houses with a main door clean-out on either side, not so easy... You need a stubby Phillips to get in there and it is hard to get enough torque with a large hand in a small bird-house. Minor complaint, not the fault of the trap, really. Well worth the money.

Success!!! Finally able to get rid of some invasive house sparrows that kill our blue birds.

Easy to attached to bluebird house, works as intended

This house sparrow trap is very well constructed, sturdy, and easy to install. It can easily be transferred to another next box when necessary. After losing the bluebird’s first set of nestlings to a vicious house sparrow, we installed the trap when we saw the house sparrows immediately start building a nest in the nest box. Within 15 minutes the male house sparrow was trapped!! We would highly recommend this trap when house sparrows have taken over a nest box!