Expert: Roger Lederer - 5/29/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have some kind of black birds raiding my bird houses taking the fledglings. It is not a starling and too small to be a crow. I just don't know what it is. They seem to travel in packs. For the last three years I have been loosing my baby birds to these monsters. I live In NY on LI. Any ideas what they are and how I can protect the little ones. The houses have no perches and the openings are quite small, but they are getting them. TY

ANSWER: I'm afraid you don't provide me with enough information to give you and specific advice. If the bird houses have no perches and are quite small, I can't imagine any black birds that would do what you describe, especially those that travel in packs. If you can get me a photo of these birds, I might be able to help. I just can't think of any birds at all that might fit the behavior you describe. Have you actually seen these birds enter the bird houses and remove the young? And what kind of baby birds are you referring to?

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QUESTION: Yes I have seen them do it and then sit on my front lawn and eat them. They are a medium sized black bird with a opulent tinge to them at times around then neck area. The baby birds they are attacking are sparrows. I can't get a picture to you I don't have a working camera at this time. They could be Starlings but I thought Starlings had spots on them. Do they change at all with age?

Answer
I'm not sure what you mean by opulent - could you mean shiny or iridescent? Starlings lose their winter spots in the spring and are pretty much black with a sheen. Starlings will occasionally attack other birds and drive them out of their nesting sites and occasionally kill the young birds. I suspect that they are attacking House Sparrows as the House Sparrows commonly nest in nest boxes. Since both Starlings and House Sparrows are non native and considered pests, I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to minimize the predation, you'll have to make the nest box entry even smaller.