Crescent SREH's on Gourds
From: Chuck Abare
Date: 4/7/00
Time: 9:19:45 AM
Comments
All,
Earlier, someone asked the question if anyone had developed a method for adding SREH’s to gourds.
Well, the answer is yes. If you have gourds that presently have the round hole already drilled in them, I’ve developed a little add on that can be screwed to the front of the gourds and then cut away the material that is not needed. It doesn’t look half bad and it’s rather easy to do. Don’t have any pictures of it yet, but I’ll work on that.
I use a material called Styrene. (A type of PVC based plastic). It comes in just about any thickness and color you want, (white of course), and it can be cut and worked with an ‘exacto’ knife. I got some here at a local distributor, just about any plastics distributor carries it. Cost will depend on how much you want to buy. .060 thk , (1/16") is around $1.50 a square foot" (approximately)"
Here’s what I did:
First, a ‘very accurate’ pattern of a crescent shaped SREH will have to be made. I made mine from a piece of 1/8" Lexan that I had laying around. It takes a while to make it, but I wanted it accurate since it was the pattern for all my holes. For lack of a better method of describing it, it looks like a very thick horseshoe, with the bottom open, (reason for which I’ll explain later).
Next, I laid the pattern on my Styrene and simply cut it out by tracing it using the ‘exacto’ knife. (Exacto knives can be purchased just about anywhere and are plenty sturdy enough to work with without getting hurt). Now, I drilled the holes to screw it onto my gourds. (One in each of the 4 corners).
Now, gourd prep. Take the gourd and, using a ‘sharp’ pencil, draw a horizontal line, even with the bottom of the round hole. About 3 inches either side of the hole will be plenty long enough. Now, lay your freshly cut out ‘add-on’ over the hole with the bottom of the piece setting on the line. Now, use your pencil and draw the half moon shape on what gourd surface that is exposed.
OK, I have a ‘Dremel Tool’ in my shop, but a jig saw or even a small keyhole saw and yes, the exacto knife will work just fine, but you have to remember to be accurate. I like the Dremel Tool because I had so many to do. First, cut the bottom of the hole making sure you are very accurate and keep the bottom cut straight. Next, remove the part of the gourd that you drew the line around. Now, lay your SREH on the gourd with the bottom setting exactly on the horizontal line you drew and centered over the hole. Pre-drill one screw hole and add a 6-32 x ½" long Phillips self threading screw" (Wal-Mart, K-mart). Now that one screw is in place, you can maneuver the piece around more easily. Level the other side of the piece to the line and add that screw. Now, complete assembly by adding the two top screws. Now, using your knife, clean up the edges near the half moon so that the crescent is accurate. Now, ‘double check to make sure you have the required 1 3/16" for the opening. If not, then adjust it so that it is.
What I did was added latex caulking (white" 15 year in the red tube" no added silicone" dries faster" Wal-Mart brand) and a small paint brush to smooth it all out to make it look good. Then, I let it dry over night and it don’t look half bad.
The reason I left the bottom of the piece open was I wanted the martins to have natural gourd surface for their feet to land and cling to. Just my own little quirk, but I feel they like the feel of natural better.
IF" you want to get some of this material, it’s called 1/16" thick, high impact, polystyrene. I get it locally here in 20" x 24" sheets from a company called Cope Plastics, Inc. Ph: (800)-545-8428. The material cost is $4.76 per sheet/ plus tax and shipping. You can ask for Robin and she’ll know what your plans are and will ship it to you. They take all major credit cards..
Now, one last thing, if you don’t want to spend the time making them from plastic Styrene, Frank Prekup has a die that punches these crescent shaped SREH’s out of thin aluminum and they are ‘very accurate’ and I’m sure he could be persuaded to make these for you, and yes, it would work just as well as the plastic and the caulking would fill all around it and make it look just like my plastic versions. You would just have to make sure all the sharp edges were well covered so neither you nor your birds would be hurt" I don’t know what Franks prices would be, but I’m sure he could come up with something fair.
If anyone has any more questions on it, I plan to make a little addition to my page with pics for more details soon.
Hope this helps a little"
Chuck
Change Over Complete
From: Chuck Abare
Date: 4/10/00
Time: 8:41:59 AM
Comments
Hey All,
Well folks, I did it. I have completely changed my site over to crescent shaped entrance holes. Now, I’m not going to fib here, but Friday night, when I put the first rack of them up, I was apprehensive. When the martins came in from feeding, a lot of them hit the holes and immediately stopped and sized up the situation. They looked and flew to other gourds and looked again and there was much commotion I’ll be perfectly honest, my heart was pounding as I watched them struggle. But then, one female went in her gourd. Then another, and another still. Then, they were in and out and in, trying these new holes. Then a few of the males made it. The second rack was still round holes, but they wanted their gourds so bad that they soon figured out how to negotiate these new holes. I watched till well after dark and one lone male was having all kinds of problems. Then, about an hour after dark, I took my flash light and looked things over. Nothing. All birds were in gourds somewhere.
Saturday morning broke cold here in North Alabama. (29 deg). I went outside and there were about 5 or 6 birds sitting on the arms. Then, the fun started. Starlings showed up. Not 1 or 2, but 4. The first thing they did was fill their beaks with wads of junk and started to put it in their favorite gourds... but to their dismay, they could not get into these new fangled holes. No matter how hard they tried, they failed. They pecked, they dug, they scratched, they clawed, but nothing.
Well, it was off to the shop to change over some more gourds. It only takes me a couple of minutes to change a gourd over and I prepared the next 16. I couldn’t help but take a break every now and then and watch the starlings as they tried in vane to get into these gourds. Then, it was off to Cullman to give a little talk to their Chamber of Commerce on gourds and martins. Then, back to the house. I have to admit, the delay to stop at an antiques shop so the wife could look around was getting to me. But, when we got back, those stupid starlings were still trying to get into those gourds and were still failing. Well, needless to say, I was convinced, so my wife helped me and we quickly changed out the second rack. That night, I watched as they came back in and now, the ones on the second rack have to figure it all out. But, before nightfall, all the birds were in their gourds, looking back out at me wondering what in the world I had done to their houses"
Sunday morning, sun bright in the sky early. Martins were making a racket that could even be heard over the local lawnmowers. But, to my surprise, they were going in and out of the holes as if nothing had changed at all. However, I stood and hid in my shop door and I watched and laughed as starling after starling tried to get into the gourds. Not one succeeded. I didn't even try to shoot them, the show was that good.
Along with all the gourd and martin work that had to be done, I managed to fit in a little yard work too. (Sure wish I had someone to cut my grass so I could play). Anyway, before the end of the day, ALL 86 holes were fitted with crescent shaped Starling Resistant Entrance Holes. Thank you Frank Prekup for talking me into it. Your add-ons worked great. Qick and easy was the ticket. All Sunday afternoon, the martins were enjoying the sun, making noise and I was enjoying watching the frustrated starlings try to get into my gourds and houses.
However I will say this. I was very apprehensive, no, doggone it, I was scared. Making this change could have disrupted my colony and that bothered me, but apparently they wanted to stay at my site, because so far, things are fully back to normal and they are going about their martin business as if nothing had happened.
I know it’s early, but I have to say this. This is the first morning I have come to work and not worried about what the starlings were doing back at my site. Now I KNOW what they’re doing... NOTHING... and it’s honestly a good feeling. So folks, if starlings are a problem at your site as they are at mine, I urge you to seriously consider this type of change to your housing. It’s really a great feeling to watch a starling try to get into those openings and FAIL"
Thanks, Frank...
Chuck Abare
Re: SREH Quiz
From: Chuck Abare
Date: 4/24/00
Time: 9:24:12 AM
Comments
First, I know it’s still early and I’ve only had them for a little over two weeks, but I am very willing to make this following statement.
"I, Chuck Abare, will NEVER cut another ROUND 2" hole for purple martins".
Extreme, maybe, but these last two weeks have been the most peaceful two weeks that I have had in keeping purple martins in a long time. As most folks know and as Terry said, I changed my entire site over to the ‘crescent’ shaped SREH (before nesting started) and I honestly have to say, it was one of the best moves I’ve ever made in my time of keeping purple martins. I won’t deny fact that it’s sometimes hard to get me to make a change, especially if what I have works, but this is one time I’m glad I did. And I won’t deny the fact that the move scared the daylights out of me, but as of this minute, my martins are building nests as if nothing is was changed and in fact, they seem to have even less problems getting their nesting materials in the holes than they did with the round ones. I did a quick check yesterday and so far, there are 12 nests well under way. Oh, and that big male that I thought couldn’t make it in the holes, NOT" He’s learned that if he twists ever so slightly and lays his wings back, that he can slide in and out just as easily as his mate. In fact, he’s even helping her build the nest.
I do have to say this one more thing about them. For those that have reworked their houses to the larger compartments, I think y’all ought to keep Frank Prekup up nights making you some reworked or new doors with crescents for your houses. Folks, this really does work and as Ken Kostka has said, and if I may quote, "The time for SREH’s is long overdo".
I’m not going to say that they will keep every starling out, but if they keep 9 out of every 10 starlings out of your martin housing, then they are worth it. I’ve killed over 80 starlings this year and a good many of them have been because they couldn’t get into my gourds anymore and were drawn to my S&S with the round hole. I painted it pure white, painted over the fake holes and left only the real hole in their place. This weekend I trapped and disposed of 7 starlings, 4 Sat, 3 yesterday.
And, as I said, my buddy Rodell, down the road was so invaded with starlings that we both spent last Friday changing over his entire site. Guess what, NO STARLINGS are in his gourds and his martins are doing just fine. It took them only a matter of hours to get used to the new holes.
Yes, our sites were established sites, but I’m willing to bet that if a new martin was looking to start a new site, that they would quickly learn to recognize and negotiate this type of hole without any kind of problem. Once they learn that they can get in these holes, then from that point on, they simply glide right on in. And in fact, I’ve even had them going in and out of my T-14. They have the flat shelves to help with and they don’t even slow down. Also, remember, that’s where my big male stayed until he could figure out how to get in the gourds.
Folks, I know that a couple of weeks is not a fair test of any kind, but just watching my birds now gives me such a feeling of peace that it’s hard to describe. And think about this... What if we were able to change the imprinting of martins to not look for the round holes, but the SREH holes, now wouldn’t that be a kicker.
OK, a couple of things that I’ve discovered in my doings. First, as Terry said, I had a little problem in making the entire square insert fit onto spherical surfaces such as my gourds. But, I found that if I cut the bottom ½" off the piece and left it open like a horseshoe, it became much more flexible to work with and it went around the gourd surface much more easily. 4 screws hold it in place and although not required, a little caulking made it look really nice. I also found that a material called Styrene was much easier to work with for us home do it yourselfers. I gave a source for it on my gourd rework page.
And, I call out for using an ‘Exacto knife’ to do the cutting, but a good sharp utility knife will also work just as good and in fact, maybe a little easier once you learn to cut curves with it. I’ve also found that the Crescent shaped holes are easier to make than the oblongs. Once a pattern is made, it’s just a matter of cutting them out. And, although I’ve never seen a starling get into one of the oblong holes, I’ve heard that some occasionally do. Not to say that they won’t, but I have yet to see one make it into one of my gourds with the crescents.
Now, I’m not trying to overwork Frank here, but if he were put to work just changing over all the aluminum houses in use out in the field today, that he would have a lot of trouble finding time to sleep. I’ve got 14 of his inserts on my T-14 and all I can say is, they work.
I don’t know what else to say. I am beginning to honestly believe that with the introduction of starlings into this country, that this could be one of the most important moves that a purple martin landlord could make to help his martins out. Starlings are a pain in the butt and if something isn’t done on a much larger scale to eradicate them, then they are going to become even more of a problem. And unless we can monitor our sites all day, sooner or later, they are going to build a nest, become territorial and then do some serious damage to, either the martin eggs, the young or even the adult birds themselves. As a landlord, it’s our duty to protect these birds if we are going to offer and then attract them to our housing.
Now, I can honestly say, I shoot starlings because I want to, not because I have to, and it’s a good feeling.
And Karl, my answers to your questions. 1- I use Crescents. Half crescent, half oblongs on my plastics (as a test). 2- Yes, for about 1 hour. 3- ½" on my T-14, not applicable on gourds. 4- No. 5- 1 3/16" permanents. 6- EMPHATICALLY..."NO"
Chuck Abare
Oh, and one more PS... tomorrow afternoon, I'm helping another buddy change over his 16 gourds to Crescent shaped starling resistant entrance holes...
