Homemade Bird Trap - Retrieving Trapped Birds

The nice thing about these traps is you could retrieve trapped birds at or near the feeding/bait stations or take them elsewhere for later retrieval.

Trapped birds can become aggressive and peck your hand. Wear gloves if you're not comfortable holding captured birds.

Gardening gloves like the ones I use below are enough. Gloves easily make your hand larger so you can actually smother a bird, making it easier for you to catch it inside the cage. Make sure though that the glove isn't too bulky and thick that it makes you clumsy, limiting your hand and finger movement.


How to Retrieve a Trapped Bird from the Cage

The bird shown in the following photos is the Pycnonotus goiavier (Yellow-Vented Bulbul). They typically travel in pairs and the homemade bird trap managed to trap a pair.

  1. Slowly open the bird trap's access door and insert your hand in. Putting your other hand around the access hole to cover any possible opening. When a bird is distressed it could find an opening to escape.


  2. The bird would naturally fly in all directions, but eventually you could catch it if cornered as shown below.




    While your hand is moving inside the cage, watch out for the wire spikes on the guard rails and the funnels.


  3. When cornered, the bird would have a tendency to cling to the cage wires and you'd feel a bit of resistance when retrieving. Just pull the bird decisively and it will let go.


  4. Maintaining a firm grasp on the bird, take it out from the cage. You can see that the Pycnonotus goiavier is a medium-sized bird.

    In the photo below and the next, you can see the other bird (its partner, I assume) still inside the cage.


  5. As far as I know, the Pycnonotus goiavier birds are not destructive. They're unlike the Passer montanus (Eurasian Tree sparrows) that create much damage. Their conservation status is LC or Least Concern, but they're not as numerous as the pesky sparrows.


    It feeds mainly on fruits, berries and insects. It isn't really a pest bird around the garden and so I let go of this bird as well as its partner in the cage.






Retrieving a Trapped Sparrow from the Cage

Sparrows are relatively smaller birds. I think they're much more wily and use their small size to their advantage. Shown below is the newly painted homemade bird trap with two perches. When the sparrow isn't stressed, it just naturally stays on the perch.


When threatened though, there is the usual scrambling attempt to escape. Like the Pycnonotus goiavier (Yellow Vented Bulbul), it usually stops at the corners, and then moves again.


When retrieving sparrows, crumple some paper and roll into a ball. Insert and push these balls of paper into the funnel. Because of the funnel's conical form, these balls of paper get jammed and stay there.

As you are retrieving the sparrows, they will become highly distressed and would struggle to find any opening. Putting the balls of paper into the funnel prevents the sparrows from using the funnels as a means for escape.

Here, I put some balls of paper to block the funnels.


Catch the sparrow inside the cage with the same procedure above. Remove the balls of paper afterwards.

In summary, here's a video clip of the steps for your reference:


Other articles in this series (click on the links below:)

Homemade Bird Trap - Build Plans & How it Works
Homemade Bird Trap - Materials and Tools
Homemade Bird Trap - Building the Housing
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Funnels
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Guard Rails
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Access Hole
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Door and Lock
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Carrying Handle and Restraints
Homemade Bird Trap - Setting the Trap
Homemade Bird Trap - Painting the Cage
Homemade Bird Trap - Making a Perch for the Cage
Homemade Bird Trap - Pre-Baiting Sparrows
Homemade Bird Trap - Retrieving Trapped Birds (this article)
Homemade Bird Trap - Disposing Trapped Sparrows
Sparrow Trap by Day, Rat Trap by Night
Damage Caused by Sparrows




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