Purple Martin Forum

Are the Tree Swallows attracted to your housing/gourds? If they are, then the best way is to put up a Swallow house 30-40 feet from your martin housing. Keep your martin housing closed till the Swallow have an egg in their nest box, then open up your Martin housing. Tree Swallows usually arrive a we...

Hi Peter, If I remember right, you have been close a few times. Congrats on getting an interested pair.

That's a great start. Next step is to protect that investment and success with a predictor guard and some snake netting. People lose colonies every year to these predators. Have a great year.

Are they the same bird as the Turkey Vulture. I watched one fly straight into a 30 mph headwind yesterday. Amazing flyer that hardly had to flap his wings into that wind. He would carve back and forth into that wind while making headway.

I have seen it where birds will move to a different location where they can find food during tough times. Usually a large body of water will still produce flying insects when the weather is bad. When the weather improves and flying insects are available again, they head back to their home location. ...

Thanks. Were your renesting failures due to time constraints? If so, then if mine attempt to renest, I see no reason they won't be successful. Most of the nests don't even contain eggs yet. It's just the earliest arrivals that were well ahead of the others. I'm not crystal clear on the renesting fa...

In Manitoba, I have about a third of my colony home, lots more come hopefully.

Oh man, that's awefull. Sorry that happened to them. In Canada we are still waiting for more birds. None of mine have started nest building yet. I have had a few re nest attempts, most are not very successful.

I got a few tips for you that might help for flipping crickets. When you flip, get as close to the house as they will let you. Also if you can get a little higher like standing on a picnic table will help. What you do is scare them off of the house, then just as they start to come back down to land ...

I have been feeding here too in Manitoba, that darn wind just keeps blowing. On one hand we need it to dry out our fields, but is makes life miserable for the martins. Thing is there are new martins in a colony every year and it takes them some time to catch on. I am no where near full as I have onl...

I would just keep him in a box covered with a towel covering the box for a few hours. A quiet place. Give him time to recover and then see if he will fly off. If he does not go, bring him to a local wildlife rehabber, they would know best how to proceed.

Looks great, just make sure that silicone is dry before the birds get a chance to get it on them. If the half inch doesn't keep them out, you know what to do.

Have you done a nest check for parasites? Blowfly Larvae can suck the life out of nestlings if they are present in large numbers. A nest change would eliminate that problem.

You can easily make your own. Take a 3 inch abs pipe, cut of a 3/4 inch slice of the end, then cut that circle in half, you then have two arches.

Looking at my arrival dates. The first year I had an Asy return was 2015, on May 1st. In 2014 the first sub-adult arrived May 23rd, so that would be 22 days. I did have Six pairs of SY in 2014.

I notice on those questionable days, my birds fly off in a south easterly direction. They return from that direction as well. I had a sneaky suspicion what they were up to. I went to investigate, the local waste treatment lagoon was teaming with life. Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows and yes, Martins sk...

Good Job, you should get some crickets now and slip them in between the cicadas. Or try some microwaved eggs. One egg per cup, smash up the yoke, cook for one minute, Let cool and cut up. Leave the leftovers on a platform close to where you are flipping, they will learn after a while to eat of the p...

The Dawnsong happens once the first arriving pairs have laid eggs and the females are incubating. The males fly up early in the mornng, before sunrise, as this is the time of day when sounds travels the farthest. He is trying to recruit more martins to the colony so that he can mate with the hens, f...

You are off to a good start. I considered myself having a pair when they start nest building, which should happen for you in a week or two, Once they are committed, you need to protect their efforts with a predator guard and some snake netting above the guard. Happy for you.

So you have 3 martin houses and no martins. lol, sounds a lot like me. I had 3 houses too before I got martins. Its good the give them options.The nearness of your barn should not matter as long as you have some clear flight paths for them. Why not open a house and get good at eliminating sparrows a...