Purple Martin Forum

Brad, I don't know their thickness either. I know you have an issue with thickness using rivets to install them. Those I covered the woodpecker damage with, I used 1 in. SS bolts and nuts, both plain and lock nuts. Bought them in packs of 100 from bolts.com for about $20 per pack. For me they are as...

I talked to PMCA today, advocating Brad's and Lewis' anti- modification position,as well as my own need to restore woodpecker damage (keep what you have) . I have gotten a reply from PMCA that the vendor, Mel at Hillcrest, has discontinued the making of the new taller,soft plastic WEPs. He has a sma...

Thanks for the heads up Brad. I join the others supporting the continuation of offering the original UHMW WEPs. While I have not experienced problems with wing entrapment in my conley2 openings, I have been deluged by one or more woodpeckers pecking out sizable holes at the top of the openings. For ...

It's been a long time since I've picked up a dictionary to define a word to establish its meaning. I did google the word today and while the noun defines some military activity; the verb usage defines as a word meaning to look for some person or thing. That pretty sums up what James Strickland is sa...

Billie JR, Great product. Been around for several years. A plastic slide designed just like the metal trapping mechanism and can be substituted for the metal piece if you want. The value is that they cover the entire entrance discouraging unwanted investigation. I use them on all of my Troyer gourds...

Tell him hello for us. Doubt he would remember but we got to band baby martins with him years ago. Then he stopped at our house to take a look at our then very small colony. Sharon, I certainly do remember that day. Driving out west of Georgetown to your home. Two story (of tall) with the houses in...

Duplicate post

So it's pretty much the same as it used to be, no breakthrough easier method. Thank you, sir! Top Hey Terry W, one who I would call one of the top innovators of martin housing ever. When I gave a talk at PMCA in 2007 on making natural gourds in to bird houses, I dedicated the talk to Terry. He is t...

I have 3 systems about 10 feet from power lines with cable lines beneath them. Power lines are about 10 feet above systems. Systems are 14 and 16 feet high and martins use all three as well as perch on power lines. Lower line is ground line. I have seen squirrels cross lines, but none have ever jump...

Virtually all of the geolocator/GPS returns of Eastern specie purple martin show returns to the Amazon Basin in northern Brazil. Brazil is a huge country akin in size to the continental U.S. The only return(s) to the southern agricultural areas in Brazil in the Sao Paulo region, where is was suspect...

Mike, We do nest checks for the duration of the nesting season using the plug and string method, Louise Chambers and I operating as a team. We plug entrances with pieces of foam pipe insulation with a light cord attached with a washer at the tailing end to keep the cord from blowing out of reach. Th...

In spite of this arrival forecast from PA, a great surprise!!!, I had a large group of migrants flying into and over my colony, situated within 15 miles of the Gulf coast line, this evening. I suspect neighboring landlords saw the same. In my opinion similar arrivals will impact the entire Gulf Coas...

I would call this bird an SY male, earlier in the molt process then some seen in the days ahead. I believe some of the black neck feathers will darken out in the coming weeks, and the black spot under its right leg, as well as a less defined spot under the left is indicative of a male. Plus the timi...

I don't know how much interest you have in the northern cardinal but there was a gynandromorph found last year that is female on the left and male on the right (photo courtesy Shirley Caldwell). I've been wondering if this has been documented in purple martins and, if so, on which side the female p...

Hi Flyfisherman, I live in Corpus Christi and have colonies in town and at a site 35 miles (and 5-10 degrees hotter) west of town. I vent all of my gourds with a single 1 inch pvc elbow vent placed as high on the gourd so that its outflow is faced downward. At seasons end it's amazing how much gunk ...

I, and others, have clipped the flight wings (one side) off of house sparrows used as live bait in traps. The reason being, if they escape when you pull out recently caught house sparrows, some predator--probably a roaming house cat-- will enjoy a meal. It also allows you to know which sparrow is th...

jpp77--- Looking at the pdf instructions that John Miller posted, part T is the top section of the pole and the winch will go in to it at the top on the right side looking at the pdf. The other end of part T (which will have a small sliver of metal attached to it) will slide in to the end of part U ...

Beach 42, as pointed out above there is good information on supplemental feeding found at the top of the page. One article has a link to another article on Strategies for Supp. Feeding. You will find that adding meal worms to a cavity is an accepted practice. https://www.purplemartin.org/uploads/med...

I have observed and documented 40 or more successful second brood attempts at my colonies in Corpus Christi and near Sandia, TX, since first observing them in 2004. I have published at least three articles about second broods in Purple Martin Update. I have documented nine banded ASY martins involve...

Great job Spiderman. I have had good luck with those traps on my Troyer gourds. One tip, for those using the traps--- if you are trapping sparrows, I recommend cutting down the longer straight trap wire that sticks through the entrance and supports the drop piece; otherwise the sparrows can get arou...