I always go in a day before my first eggs are due to hatch. I lift the front edge of the nest up and put a small amount of Seven there. By the time it loses its strength it will be fledge time or later, if your nest gets wet it won’t last as long. I’ve never had mites doing it this way and I don’t h...

I went out this morning first thing and didn't see any obvious signs of jumpers from yesterday. Where I live there are plenty of ground predators that might have gotten something overnight that would have jumped yesterday. No signs of feathers or anything so who knows. About an hour later I saw one ...

If you don't mind post some pictures of you housing as well as you property to give some ideas as to how close you are to trees, buildings, etc. There are many intelligent people on here who will give you good advice.

Unfortunately not. I checked the radar a few minutes ago and it shows a good rain just went through not to long ago. I checked the live view on my cameras and nothing appeared to be wet so either a big cell went through on the radar and it was not rain or things just dried up really quick. When it g...

Midwest temps are expected to be near 100 with high humidity and “feels like” temps over 110 degrees the next couple days. I have over 100 young this year some of which started fledging a week or so ago and others weeks away from their first flight. I have small vent holes in my gourds. I am out of ...

What works best for me is a screw type hose clamp. If you are not familiar with them go to a hardware store or auto parts store and ask for one. I tighten the clamp down tight on the perch. As you tighten it there is excess strap that sticks out and I then shoot a small screw threw the strap into th...

You might not have, I'm surprised Johns posted if he only lowered it to 900. I was thinking it couldn't be over 300 or 400. I'm sure someone from the PMCA can explain the exact guidelines.

Most commercial made pole guards are not enough to stop rat snakes. They are excellent climbers. Living where you do I would put some netting above your predator guard, unless you have some type of homemade guard that is bigger then a standard guard.

If it were me I probably wouldn't bother with putting up new housing this time of year. As long as you have some housing up on your property them to find this summer/fall. Put the new housing up next spring and keep your fingers crossed. Do you have any pictures of your current setup and yard? We mi...

https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/5772 I saw this and another article that also show grey rat snakes up there. I am sure others no more about them but what you describe sounds like snakes. Either way with that many missing young you are at risk of the entire colony being gone next year. I would put...

It is too late in the season for martins to stay and nest, especially in SC. They could be visiting from another nearby colony, they could be fledges or they are martins that have started their migration back south. Either way martins visiting your site is a good thing. Especially if they are fledge...

Unless the housing was destroyed a storm should not cause adult martins to abandon a site. If you had nesting martins with babies and now they are gone I would say a snake might have gotten them and it was just coincidence a storm came through that next day/night. Since you posted this have you chec...

Maybe we can get a sticky thread with clear direcections. It seems to be a very common problem, people not understanding why their pictures won't post.

I have an 18x33 pool less then 100 feet from my martin housing and zero issues. Last year some of the TS would fly over the pool and drop the poop sack from their babies in the pool but none have done it this year. I have at night seen bats drop and drink from the pool. I also read years ago about a...

Nice looking site and great to see the northern martin population getting some help. In areas with low populations of martins it is hard to get near 100% occupancy. Since you have 16 cavities it could be tough to get more then 12-14 pair. If you want to increase the colony size more then that you mi...

If you don't want to use another website find the picture you want to upload and then right click on it. You should be able to "open with" microsoft paint. Depending on what version of Windows you have you can right click and just hit "edit" and it will open in Paint. Once paint is open of the optio...

I've heard of them but never tried them. Given the fact that HOSP are one of the biggest problems that land lords face I assume they are not effective or everyone would be using them.

Steve I can't remember if you've shown before or not, but do you have any pictures of your storage for all your gourds. I am assuming it is quite a site keeping all those gourds stored in the off season..... It takes me an afternoon to get my small colony down and cleaned up each winter, can't imagi...

Depending on your housing style and predator gaurds it could be a number of things. What type of housing do you have and are there gaurds on your poles? Pics of the setup might help. Snakes, raccoons, SY males, squirrels, crows, just to name a few.

SY males are definitely know to cause problems. Some just harass, others will actually kill young. I am guessing it is going to be too late in the year to find any new females.