Purple Martin Forum

Some more tips. I found a bucket that was about a 7 or 8 gallon bucket, it's about 4-5 inches taller than a 5 gallon bucket. It works great for the young, even if they are 28-30 days old. The bucket is high enough that they can't jump or fly out of it. Another thing, take a foam pool noodle, or a pi...

Hi Jerry, Here are some ideas for your jumpers! Jumpers. These are birds that jump from the nest at this time of the year and it could be caused from several things. A lack of food from the parents, dirty nests that could have parasites in them, or some physical issue that is keeping them from flyin...

Air Dancers!

I know that Andrew Troyer has been using one but it's difficult to say if it has been helping or not!

You would have to be outside at the exact time of a hawk fly over or an attack to see how they would react.

I am not sure if they use it at night or not.

Bill

I believe some people use heavy duty electrical wire, like 6 or 8 gauge. It may even be larger than that. They twist it around the pole and then have it come out away from the pole for 5-6 inches and then have it bent in an upward direction. The bird netting then gets placed on that wiring.

Bill

Carlton, congratulations on what sounds like a great year!

You have really been a great advocate for martins in both Delaware and Florida.

Keep it up.

Bill

Looks great Craig.

Hope next year is even better for you!

Bill

Congratulations Daryl,

Nice looking site. I am curious, are the birds nesting in the front of the house or in the back, and are they in the same houses?

Bill

Hi Toy,

You sure have your hands full this year! Things can't get much worse, so hopefully it all starts getting better for you.

It appears that the weather will improve, that should help.

Bill

Hi Doug and Toy, I am getting more reports of dead young in northwestern PA. One site, just started last year, lost all 15 young that had hatched so far. Another site, had 35 young on Friday and it now only has 12 left alive. There are numbers of other sites that are having the same losses. It's rea...

Toy, Your efforts are increasing the purple martin numbers around your area, albeit a slow process. Great effort on monitoring your colony and helping your birds out. You are one of the better landlords out there! Hope you have a good turnout and a great day tomorrow spreading the word about martins...

I have not heard much about any bird flu that humans could attract from purple martins, but if you feel the need to wear those protective garments, it will not hurt. I hope that everything is ok in your nests, since it has been raining a lot. Let us know how you make out with the nest checks? Thanks...

Thais, Congratulations on your new colony as well! We need to get more quality landlords in the northeast to start new colonies and take care of them. Earlier in the spring, we heard about higher than expected numbers of ASY birds returning, so that was great to hear! Hopefully the trend in martins ...

Andy, My opinion would be to check the box now and see if she laid a fifth egg, and if she did move all of the eggs into that nest. I am assuming that you only have one pair flying around your colony, and that there is no chance that you have multiple pairs nesting. See what other people think, sinc...

Congratulations Toy,

Hope some of these new birds will nest for you and extend your season, as well as making it your best year yet.

Hoping for the best for you.

Bill

The housing looks good. Nice picture.

Good luck,

Bill

Hi Tim, Definitely don't get stressed out over this. Many people don't even have access to checking their nests, so they let martins do their thing! The one thing that really benefits the colony and other close by colonies is by monitoring and managing a colony can help increase the fledge count by ...

Hi Jim, Those numbers are good! Hope you are having a good year up there on the lake. I imagine that you are getting the same storms that are affecting northwest PA as well. I have heard of some wet nests, so that may be something to watch out for. Fortunately the temperatures have been warm, so hyp...

Hi Tim, Glad that you are helping out the martin population and trying to interest the public as well. If you want, send me an email to the address below and I can start sharing the information that we send out for the Lakeland Area Purple Martin Association. Hope you get more pairs to nest this yea...

Joe, Be careful with the house sparrow nests. The male house sparrow is well known for taking his frustrations out on martin eggs when you destroy his eggs or block off his cavities. They are a non native species and you can eliminate them. The best thing that you can do is try to trap or shoot the ...

Good job Ray,

That is a way to get some future landlords.

Bill in PA