Since you only had 2 or 3 pair last year there is no guarantee that the martins you had last year survived the migration. Some years my earliest arrivals will show up and then stay gone for a day or two. So that could be what you are seeing, or they could just have been some martins that were passin...

What is the name of the wood kit you bought. Just curious to see the design and how it’s made.

I too have to rely on SREH because we have thousands and thousands of starlings. I can keep up with the HOSP but there is no way I would be able to control the starlings. On a side note for you guys with the V-Trap. I spoke with Andy Troyer about them when I bought the plans from him. I was planning...

I had an ASY male at my old place that would wrestle a sparrow to the ground if it landed on the housing. If only we could breed that into more of them.

I usually keep my T14 closed up except for the compartments with traps before the martins arrive. Once they start showing up I usually take the traps out unless I have a cavity that a HOSP starts building a nest in. After they get a nest partially built Ill put the trap in there with some of their n...

I have an insert trap for the T14. I have noticed the same thing this year. The first day I caught 2 male HOSP but the next day the weather went bad and I haven't had any luck since. In past years it didn't matter how many I trapped or what sex, they flocked to the T14. I used to have a repeating tr...

There are a couple things I have found to help ID the SY male versus female martins. One is they males will almost always have some random dark spots on their breast. Some have a bunch and others just have a couple but if you see a few spots that look like a black ink stain it will be an SY male. On...

I don't think it would make much difference. If martins are in the area and are in need of housing they are going to spend some time checking things out. The housing and or dawn song will draw them to your area and they will take care of the rest. Our TS populations are very high so I have never had...

Is yours solar powered or some other way?

When I first started I shy'ed away from electric predator guards because my kids were young and we always had a lot of my young nieces and nephews around and I didn't want to risk one of them messing around with it. Now they are old enough to know better so I am looking at my options, prices, etc. T...

I had seen those houses in the past but haven't heard much about them. Curious to see how you do with them.

Since you don't have any returning martins this year you need to leave your martin housing closed up and only leave the TS housing open. If you have a way to lower the martin housing do that as well. You will keep battling them if you don't leave the martin housing closed. You need to leave it close...

I hung up my T14 and gourd rack a couple weeks ago to start trapping some HOSP. The first day I caught 2 right off and then the weather got bad and I haven't seen many since. I had 1 more T14 to hang up this morning and while doing so I had a female martin buzzing by. I went ahead and raised the gou...

In the past I thought there was a day or so lag time in the reports showing up. However I submitted one just a few minuets ago and it shows up already. If it doesn't show up by Monday I would shoot them an email. Congrats on the new colony for your daughter. I wouldn't be surprised if that T14 doesn...

It usually doesn't take an ASY male long to find a mate. If he doesn't lure in an ASY female the SY's will flock to him when they arrive.

If you are seeing martins in the area and don't have issues with competitors I would not wait for the SY's to open your housing. A majority of colonies probably start with SY's but plenty of people start with ASY's. If other landlords had predator issues last year, or their housing is falling down, ...

I think any cavity that they can fit in is a magnet for them. This time of year, as soon as I put my housing up the starling are all over it for a few days until they finally give up. If you had an SREH shaped opening that was large enough for starlings to fit in I am certain they would choose that ...

Yeah, but most of the others are warranted. I don't think anyone would not be able to house martins solely because of SREH.

Yeah, the term SREH anxiety is geared toward the landlord not the birds....

I've observed that even at established colones when martins first arrive the don't always go into cavities. They will stick their heads in checking things out before eventually going in to make their decision. I think many people mistake this causing SREH anxiety.