Purple Martin Forum

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...

Andrew, An update from the northeastern shore of Lake Ontario- When I checked this morning the martins in the house on the property close to ours had gone. They may actually have left yesterday. Their departure this year has thus occurred about a week earlier than usual. I have to say I am concerned...

Farmerharv,

How do you upload your photos which, in addition to being great, are large and seem to have a good resolution?

Gotham

Hi Andrew, I am a bit north of you but significantly east of you, in Wellington, Ontario, on the north-east shore of Lake Ontario. While, for a number of reasons, we have been frustratingly unsuccessful this year in having martins settle in our new martin house (see "Chicadee interference" on this f...

It seems clear from all of the above that only a relatively small (6% or 5-10%) of nestlings that fledge from a colony return the following season to the same site as SY martins. On this forum I have often seen colony histories similar to this one: 2016-1 pair, fledged 4 2017-3 SY pair, fledged 10 2...

Just read your thread again, Ryan.

How did you upload such large photos with such apparently high resolution?

Gotham

Ed, Although we did not succeed in having purple martins settle in our new martin house this year (instead they settled in an unmanaged martin house on a property adjacent to ours that they had been returning to for decades) we feel we have learned a lot from having tried and, while doing so, having...

Wow, Toy. You and your husband each deserve a medal! It is sobering to hear that despite your experience and knowledge, as well as your heroic effort, there were so many fatalities. I hope this was a particularly bad year and not representative of what we can expect if we succeed in attracting purpl...