I don't know if it is sparrows eating your plants but they certainly peck at seedlings, buds and flowers here and can destroy some crops. However, although they were once very common in the UK they are now becoming quite rare and are verging on endangered species status.

Gibby, house wrens and house sparrows are entirely different species. House sparrows are a non-native bird and are considered pests by many, thus are not protected by law. House wrens are native birds and it is illegal to tamper with their nests. I do not allow house wrens to nest in my boxes, however, because as you said they are can cause harm to the eggs and hatchlings of other cavity nesters. I remove any sticks I find in my nestboxes and, fortunately, have not come upon a completed house wren nest (or else I'd have to leave it alone). Since I monitor my nestboxes twice each week during nesting season I can usually catch early nesting attempts by wrens and stop them. You can find out more about both species at this link: www.sialis.org Kathy

I was afraid that might be the case, they all look around the same size (martins) and info I found today said that the martins usually start to arrive here in February and look for nesting spots. In addition to All the other potential dangers/problems with the house/location where these martins are possibly planning to nest and raise babies, same neighbors also have a HAMM RADIO tower in their back yard and every year around late spring/ summer a great horned owl perches up there on and off and and hoots, I've heard him and seen him up there several nights in a row before. Is there anything I can do at this point, like put up a safe Martin house, or will they stay there now regardless? I'm hoping that if I talk to neighbors and explain the situation, they will do something about it. I feel sick at the thought of the martins going through whole process and end up losing babies or being harmed themselves. If I thought there was a possibility that they would relocate this late in the game, I'd gladly put up a safe place for them to nest and make sure it stays that wAy, although I'd be learning as I go, ughh, whole situation makes me nervous. I'm going to post the pics of the house and the birds tonight, I'm pretty sure the house is not the ideal layout either, it has little porches with metal railings on both floors and another railing across top and from what I've read so far, that makes it easy for owls to get to them. Thanks

When you say Safflower feeder, I'm going assume a standard tube feeder. I had the same problem but with House Finches rather than HOSPs. I have a four-station tube feeder with metal rods that protrude through the tube to provide a perch at each station on opposite sides of the tube. Try wrapping some type of mesh around the tube. The perch rods will stick through the mesh. Use cable ties to hold the mesh in place. I wanted to try something with about a 1/2" grid that would allow the birds to grab seeds but not shovel the seeds out like the HFs were doing. I have a pond so I ended up using a remnant of the nylon netting I use in the Fall to keep the leaves out. About a 12" long by 8" tall section covered the openings. The nylon flexes so I assumed the birds could reach in and grab a seed. The cardinals would land and stare at the feeder but wouldn't touch it. After a week, I started cutting slits in the netting to make the openings larger. The cardinals finally gave it a try and could grab the seed out of the feeder. The dees and titmice have no problems, either. I have seen HFs on occasion throw seed out but it's rare. Much nicer filler the feeder up once a week rather than once a day.