Purple Martin Forum

TNMartin,
If Martins have been seen in your area, get your housing up Yesterday! Be ready to deal with starlings and house sparrows as you wait for the martins!

Bird

jhcox, It takes the martins very little time to understand that the insects are flying again and they return to their instinctive feeding patterns. As the weather warms, it is a matter of a day, or maybe even hours and our birds are airborne and hunting down food as it is available to birds still st...

Doug, as you already know, I am with you 100% on the importance of supplemental feeding when and where needed. I had one serious "die-off" a number of years ago before I learned that it was possible to intervene. The one thing that you failed to mention was how much fun it is to have your birds figu...

Actually, I woudn't mind seeing the martins slow down their advance north! Here in Ohio we see some nasty winter like conditions sometime in March almost every year which can be a disaster for our birds. It appears that our birds are significantly ahead of averaged arrival dates across the mid-south...

Brad, The entrances that I am working with are the modified excluders. Thank you for the recomendation of making sure the porch is no lower than 1/8" from the entrance levels. With everyone's help I think we are on the right track with the modifications we are making on the 18 Excluder gourds. This ...

I have a question for someone who has experience with Excluder gourds. My home colony, and other satelites colonies that I have worked with have all been T-14's along with Troyer horizontal and verticle gourds. I have had very good success with this approach and continue to reccomend this lineup. I ...

One of the problems of having a large colony is the reality that you and your birds are ringing the dinner bell for a number of predators. The attacks by Sharp Shinns and Coopers are spectacular but frightening to witness up close and personal. I have had one of these hawks launch an attack while I ...

After reviewing the map of historical arrival dates, it surely appears that we are 10 days to two weeks early across the mid south states and west into Oklahoma. Hopefully they will slow down before they get too far north in early March when Ohio weather can be deadly to insectivores. Better be prep...

SSMartin, I agree with the suggestion that you should trap the starlings if you do not have an accurate air rifle handy. There are many types of traps out there made for specific brands of gourds. I would not try to peacefully co-exist with these aggressive, invasive species, especially if you have ...

You are right about someone dropped the ball up here in Ohio, but I can guarrantee you that it was not anyone around Athens who have been following Geaux Burreaux since he was in the 9th grade! That mistake was made approx.80 miles up the highway by the Suckeyes. Urban wanted to try to keep both Joe...

I like both of these teams in the Super Bowl so it will be a stress free game to watch for me. Enough stress and excitement this college football season following our home town hero lead the LSU Tigers to the national championship and the Heisman.
Enjoy the last football game of the year!

I have tried just about all types of gourd openings, and I agree with the reccomendations you are getting for both Excluders and Conleys.

"Bird"

T-bird, Welcome aboard! You are off to a good start from what I am reading. In your questions about type of boxes, locations, etc, I didnt see much discussion about the importance of the proper type of pole equipped with a hoisting sytem to make nest checks easy to perform on a routine basis. Make s...

kegger, I will "second" the advice from "cc" when he suggests that you expand your cavities from 6x6 to at least 6x12. Martins are the largest swallows, and they need the room raise their young. The deeper nest cavity also provides protection from the reach of predators. Larger, and fewer cavities c...

Buckdog......I noticed your location as southeastern Ohio. I can reccomend a source close by for pole and winch set-up for T-14's. Near Jackson, Ohio is a large greenhouse southeast of town called Four Mile Greenhouse. Robert Miller is the owner of this wonderful greenhouse and also has a thriving m...

Fuzzmiester, Purple Martins are a bird species that has been banded in many locations over the years. For this reason, it is possible to observe martins and possibly see a banded bird. Even though a lot of birds have been banded, it is still a somewhat rare experience. Your chances increase if you a...

Bluetick, What a great picture of your colony! We are starting to worry about the fate of our birds down here in Athens county. Not a bird so far. We have an established colony, but I worry about the amount of avian predators that these birds have to deal with all spring and summer long while they a...

No birds reported in Athens county as yet. We are looking at a couple of good weather days coming up so hopefully we will get some birds....and soon! I am not giving up, but I am starting to worry about all the bad things that can happen to our birds on their amazing journey.
Bird

Roger, I do follow up my power spray washing of my T-14's with a chlorox wipe down of the compartments and nest trays. I currently have three T-14's along with my gourd racks in my home colony. I also have 5 other T-14's that we have installed at friends homes and at public accessible parks for othe...

Doug, We are watching anxiously for birds over here in southeastern Ohio. A few scout reports have shown up in Ohio, some north of us, but nothing in the colonies that are established near us. Hopefully some help from the warmer southern winds will help them get here. I have often wondered if our bi...