Purple Martin Forum

We are in Canada, and our seasonal home is on the northeastern shore of Lake Ontario. The purple martins traditionally reach us April 8-15. Over the last couple of decades their numbers, sadly, have been gradually declining. Upon hearing of the extreme cold in Texas and some parts of the southern US...

Just read these posts. Did the 2 surviving nestlings eventually fledge?

gotham

I did finally view your video on You Tube and enjoyed it-thanks for posting. I will have to try to find out where the PM's that leave our property (at present more correctly the adjacent property) go to roost before embarking on their migration south. I wonder how one does get that information and w...

Given that many (most) of us are unable to get there, but would be interested in seeing it, are you able to post a video?
gotham

Hi Farmer Harv,

I, along with many others, followed your posts with great interest last year and am hoping things went well in West Saskatchewan this year. Do you have any more of those great photos?

gotham

Hi Ryan, Read your posts last year and was really rooting for your guy to return as an ASY. Have been away from the forum for awhile but returned recently and sought out your entries for this year. Very sorry your fellow didn't make it back. Glad you are going to keep at it and will be following you...

Adjacent1.jpg Adjacent2.jpg Abandoned1.jpg Abandoned2.jpg In my earlier post, on April 12, I said we were reluctantly delaying going to our summer home, so as to honor the request of the locals that, because of Covid-19, seasonal home owners stay away. Regrettably, we then did not make it to our la...

Today is April 12, Easter Sunday. The Purple Martins usually reach Prince Edward County, where we have our seasonal home on the north eastern shore of Lake Ontario, about April 15, and last year I reported their arrival on April 13. As per my account posted above, last season was very disappointing,...

Really enjoyed that footage, Andrew! Thanks very much for having posted it. After seeing your video, even though we are north of you, next year we may try leaving our house up and playing the dawnsong until later in the season. Hope you get tenants in 2020 and look forward to hearing of your experie...

Rob, Definitely did enjoy watching. Hope to have a bit of that activity here next season, rather than just on the lot adjacent to ours

Thanks for having posted.

Gotham

So that's where "our" orioles, that were still here last week, have disappeared to

Gotham

I am amazed, given that we, also in Ontario but east and a bit north of you, haven't seen a single martin since the colony next door left 4 weeks ago. If anything like that happens again I would sure get a kick out of seeing a picture of them flying around your setup.

Gotham

Have found this thread very interesting. Agree Ryan's drone video was great! Also appreciated the link to the eBird site. Was very interested to hear that Andrew is getting martin flyovers this late in the summer. As per my post ("Chicadee" Interference) I took our martin house down in mid August, s...

So, that's where "our" hummingbirds have gone

Gotham

RRMartins, I found this thread very instructive. Since you reported no trouble after May 14 I assume the addition of the predator guard (+/- possibly having killed the rat with the poison) solved the problem. It would be of interest to hear how your colony did throughout the rest of the purple marti...

I am really impressed, not only by your success in support of the Purple Martin population in your area, but also very much by your thoughtfulness and kindness in locating your colony on the grounds of an assisted living facility and then going to the trouble of making several informative presentati...

Toy,

Thanks very much for this additional helpful advice.

I will print it out so as to have it to refer to in case this posting is no longer available next spring.

I will also let you know how I fare next season.

Gotham

As per my last post, on July 20, 5 days after the male HOSP had flown away, I again raised our martin house. The HOSP was not seen again until 4 days ago when he returned with 2 others in tow. He briefly looked into the compartment from which I had earlier removed the nest he and his partner had bui...

Ed, Hopefully, this post will garner a lot more readings. As I indicated elsewhere, I have printed this advice and plan to refer to it next year, along with useful recommendations from others on this forum, such as from ToyinPa. Wishing us all well in attracting and supporting the purple martins nex...

Ed, The unmanaged martin house on the nearby property cannot be accessed for nest checks. It is high up on a massive steel pole that is anchored at its base by an enormous nut and bolt system. To get it down these nuts and bolts have to be undone and the pole slowly tilted to lie horizontally on the...