Purple Martin Forum

I think Doug Supernaw may be a distant cousin form Denton Texas. I'm not sure he is still playing. I know he had a nice run going in the 90's. This is the first year for a nest camera so I am anxious to see what happens inside the gourd. PVC is probably better because it doesn't need to be painted, ...

I've attached pictures of my gourd camera setup. I offset the camera an extra 5 inches in the lid to get a wider view for the inside of the gourd. The last picture shows what the image should look like for night viewing. I put a wine cooler bottle in the gourd. The aft edge of the porch is visible, ...

I have fed crickets which were straight from the pet store. It is easy to keep the crickets alive for many days (at least 7 to 10) as long as you supply with food and moisture. The moisture is like a gelatin substance that can be bought from the pet store too. I've attached a youtube link of our fee...

We had a heavy winter storm come thru yesterday and today. I've added 2 pictures of the iced up gourd rack. 3 or 4 martins began flying from gourd to gourd this afternoon. The males were singing so I don' think they're too distressed yet. Went out yesterday and today throwing up some crickets. No ta...

If you would like to post your Chimney Swift sighting, the following website has a sighting and posting link:

http://www.chimneyswifts.org/

I tried the sky blue on 4 gourds and I still had sparrow problems. It may have slowed the female a bit but the male was usually determined and wouldn't leave... until I helped him.

If you care to report on Chimney Swift arrivals, this website has an ongoing tracking system similar to the PMCA system.

http://www.chimneyswifts.org/

Click the Spring Sightings hyperlink. Also has other info about Swifts.

Dick,

I noticed you have some home-made mods to the gourd entrances and porches. Where did you get the flat plastic with the lateral ribbing?

Nice pics too. Thanks, Brian

Made this video last spring, but finally figured out how to get it available for people to see. Either click or paste the link into a internet window. We had 2 late snows and cold periods after the martins got here last year. It took a couple throws and 1 brave martin to go after one, and then they ...

Got new Excluder II's last year. Very large gourds and the PM's like them but the ribbed porches are set too low and had terrible starling invasions last year. The deep cross wise grooving allowed the starlings to push themselves thru. The grooving can be seen on the wide shot on the inside of the g...

When I used glue traps with only 1 trap the sparrows would escape 1/3 to 1/2 the time. I began to use 2 glue traps at a time. I'd place one flat on the floor and another propped up against the wall but right next to the horizontal trap. When the sparrow gets caught they flip around and contort to an...

Bob and Dale, I completely agree, the traction provided by these porches on the excluders II's are also a big part of the problem. Each time I see the starlings enter they are literally cramming themselves thru and I don't think they could do it without the grip they are getting with the deep groove...

Mary, Yes, these are the gourds, and I have the Excluder II type. I am thinking about the only thing I can do now is install some type of shim on the outside with a foot print the same size as the dimensionas of the porch and about 1/4" thick. I will probably put some non-skid 3M tape on the top exp...

I used Excluder II's for all 12 gourds this year after only 4 of 12 Excluder II's last year. I have seen more than a few starlings enter these Excluder II's this year after not witnessing any invasions last year. I got home from work today and saw a Starling entering a gourd easily so I did a nest c...

I painted the gourds in the back yard sky blue 2 weeks ago. I have trapped 2 male sparrows in last 4 days after they both hooked up with female and stuffed gourds with sparrow nest. It does not seem to work for me.

I got my earliest visitor ever on March 19. However, it was an ASY female that only stayed 2 days. I see others flying around, but not much landing and I don't think I have any staying the night anymore. I also was thinking there isn't as much activity as I had this same time last year. It usually p...

John, RC and Suzette I got the newest Excluder II. I've attached pic. I think these new excluder gourds are a little better than the older crescented supergourds because I've seen a lot of pigs try over and over with no luck. These new gourds are even bigger too. Luckily this pig was very cooperativ...

I got the new gourds with excluder entrances when they became available last year. I bought 8 more and now only have these new gourds up. I never ever saw a starling go into one until this morning. I was totally confident I had completely eliminated starlings as an issue, but it appears not to be 10...

That bad run of extreme temps 2 weeks ago caused early fledging in 2 gourds. I rigged up a water spritzer and have now moved it to the pole with the one remaining baby. From now on when the temp hits 100 or above I turn the water on until it gets back down to 99 or less. The parents seem to tolerate...

Had 2 peculiar things happen in 1 gourd. It began with a nest of 6 eggs that didn't hatch. I removed all 6 eggs, then the pair (or new pair) laid 4 more eggs. Only 1 hatched on July 11. Then we had several days of really extreme weather 107 - 110 degrees. The baby appears to have lost 7 days develop...