Purple Martin Forum

This season has seen later than normal migration and also visitors from further north. In addition, the sound you are hearing may not be that of a purple martin. It is an easy mistake to misidentify by sound alone. So, in a nut shell no need to worry. I hope this settles your mind and worries.

Hi David, Thank you for the history of the martin house and pole, I enjoyed. The tilt down style of martin poles are highly discouraged as they are difficult to lower and do nest checks each week and can be a bear with such a set up. It is also discouraged due to the fact that the eggs simply spill ...

Hi dwsample, Thank you for providing the pics as it helps us determine the style of the pole set up. It appears to be an out of date tilt down pole. I would first remove the houses from the horizontal poles, most likely bolted into the metal houses floors. Then, you can either hacksaw off the bolt /...

Randy Hi Randy, Use the Troyer tunnel with the mounting plate included. In doing so, you simply screw in the four corners of the plate to the T 14 and have a hole that matches the tunnel from the front of the T14 compartments. I put hinges on the wooden T 14 doors and then the tunnel simply swings o...

Hi Birdgirlnerd, Welcome to the world of purple martins. My suggestion is to read as much info as you can under the quick links section of this website as knowledge is power in the martin hobby.. Best of luck my friend. Sometimes it can take years before a new martin landlord gets their first pair, ...

Hi Hanah, Bless you for planning on providing a future home to martins. Many people that are just starting out try to keep their cost of housing low until after they actually get martins and then spend more money as they go forth. If you plan on the cedar T14 or use pine with good coats of white pai...

I just wanted to remind everyone that just because you don;t see martins around your colony near the end of the season doesn't mean the martins aren't slipping intp their nest quickly as dusk. The parents train their babies to forage for insect prior to heading south for the winter; which is about 1...

That looks like a great product to replace the old set up. I wish you the best.

Hi barbiejo,
Instead of wire, you may want to consider troyer hoizontal gourd mounting arms sold online. They attach to some square gourd racks.

No DE anytime. 443 pal, please visit our Iowa site and register as a member. Email me with a username and email so I can review entry info. It is safe, free and hsare with other purple martin landlords from Iowa.I live in Nevada, IA.

Hi hanaho01, Thank you for providing an ariel view of your location as it helps greatly in understanding where to put up a possible martin house. I think your intended location for a house is ideal and should be tried. Since there were martins in your location in past years, it shows that martins ar...

Hi jasolhe, The location of the planned martin house should work just fine. Bad that the trees went down, but great for the martins in the future. Do you have any martin colonies nearby ? If you do, you have a good chance of starting a new colony at your location. I'm suprised that I have not seen y...

Hi BANG,
This season has seen some later than normal migration south, but nothing to fret about. They will move on in their own time. Best of luck my friend.

Hi Ladybug,
My short and sweet answer is Conley 2. I've had the Conley II entrances for 15 years and have never had a starling get in.

That sounds very logical. Good insight.

Hi Tim, Most all my babies fledge at about 30 days. Maybe it is a second brood, but that wouldn't make sense with an SY pair. I'm as confused as you on this one. I still have two nests that need the babies to fledge and it also seems like they have been around longer than 30 days. I do know that the...

Thank you for this information, but there are some flaws in the guys understanding of sparrow behavior. If sparrow nests are removed or their eggs broken, the sparrow will have what is called sparrow revenge and enter nearby compartments that have martin eggs and destroy those eggs. This advice from...

Purple Martin will not drink from a bird bath or small source of water. They only drink while in flight.

Hi cervey, During the day near the end of the season it is very common for martins to be out teaching their young how to catch bugs. They are gone almost the entire day and then slip back to their housing at the end of the day. They also form small local roosts in surronding areas. Another thing tha...

thank you for the poem Brent. Sad to see the migration south.