Purple Martin Forum

Yes indeed the martins will move on but i could not have the heart to hang around and see them return to nothing. Better some meet a end on the road than all go looking for another site. 2 Korean war vets have given up their sites which they had for over 30 yrs. One died of cancer and the other is i...

Had the tri poles up for 3 yrs. Never had any issues with them. If you hang heavy plastic gourds on them then you just might have issues with them but not cured original grown gourds which are lighter than plastic gourds. That is what i run and am satisfied with the tri pole. Each his/her own. Had t...

I use the S&K Tri Pole on 2 of my 6 gourds. I tried the plastic gourds you mentioned on the same 2 tri poles a year earlier. The martins would land on the porches that i had attached and look in. They never did take to the gourds. This past winter i grew my own gourds and painted them and this is wh...

It is 4FT at the top. Pus i have netting over top of the guard. Next year i am going to raise it up a bit higher.

If they are something like the heath gourds that lets in sun thru the gourd then yes it probably was excess heat. I have the same situation with my babies but they are hanging on i think on count of extra thick walls that i have that are home grown. My babies hang there heads out most of the day.

Tried to post pic but JPG to big.

Have several pics i would like to share. I have saved my colony many times over from this coon.

Yes Martins are a rowdy bunch. Yesterday i observed a female SY feed her remaining baby a dragon fly . They both went inside the gourd. In the mean time a floater martin came to the gourd just as the parent was leaving and slipped in and came out with the dragon fly stolen from the baby and went to ...

I had one do the same thing a few days ago. I got a extra gourd and attached it to the pole about half way up which was about 8 feet off the ground. I put him in the gourd using a step latter. He was gone by late evening. i saw the parents feeding him.

I had your same gourds for 2 yrs and had visitors but never took to the gourds. This season i grew my own gourds and have attracted 12 nesting pr. Last season i had 1 nesting pr of ASY which came back from the year before. They nested in a heath gourd which i have since taken down and put up my home...

I have been keeping up with your struggle. Wishing the best for both of you. Just my 2 cts, i would not use cedar shavings they do tend to keep wet once they are wet.

Regards

I got a SY female that loves to beat me down and when i am not around she dive bombs my decoy to death. She has 3 little ones.

The one on the right looks to be a female.

Sounds like the manager doesn't want purple martins flying around his precious golf course. I would not endanger martins by attracting them to a golf course. I never forgot when i saw a deranged golfer take out his vices on a red shouldered hawk by driving a ball into the bird and killed it. Just be...

More gourds hanging the better. I tried the BO gourds for 2 yrs w/porches. Never had any takers. Would land on porches and GAWK! Grew me some gourds m/self and this year i am run over with Martins. Try growing your own and read up on how to preserve them to not rot. Search the web for info.

That is great. I know that is a wonderful filling. Thank you Ed for sharing this story with us here.
It is really hard to believe such fragile creatures can survive in this ruthless world. I sure wish there were more folk like you on this earth.

Yes they slip in real easy. Not wanting to attract the bad guys. When i watch them zooming and soaring i say to myself they are kings in the air but when time to roost is there weakness. Everything put on this earth has its downside.

Good luck this season. Have you ever had martins before in that set up? The only reason I ask is that I started out with S&K gourds myself and tried them for many year, Big Bo's and Bo 9's. I never had any takers in them. In the beginning that is all I had on my gourd rack along side a T14. In the ...