Purple Martin Forum

Dave, thank you for your reply. This critter is big enough for me to see it from approx. 20' away. It looks more like a bumblebee, but I don't think it is. It's a mystery to me.

I sometimes see an insect chasing or following Tree swallows. It stays about a foot behind them and makes each twist and turn they do.
Has anyone else seen this and if so do you have any idea what it is or why it's following them?

Thank you all for your comments. They have eased my mind. I was concerned that it was stuck and couldn't get out

Thank you for the advice I will wait and check again on 6/2.
Larry

Is it unusual for a martin to stay in the nest during a nest check. This happened yesterday while I was checking a Trio house. I am now thinking I should go back and check to see if it is trapped in some way. Or should I wait until my next nest check which is due 6/2.
Thanks

I had a visitor this morning that acted a little different than all the others, and I am taking this as a good sign. He chased away a pair of mocking birds that were landing on the gourd rack. He wouldn't tolerate them being there. I am thinking that this was a sub adult male, but it sure did look l...

Had lots of visitors today and one sub adult landed and checked out a gourd. I did enter it on the scout report. Hope to see more entries in my area, and more birds visiting my gourds. One thing I noticed, all but the one that landed came close, then banked away like they saw something they didn't l...

Thanks for the encouragement and sorry to be so negative. Last year by this time I had already reported a sub adult on the scout report and had some visitors after that. I had high hopes for this year, but so far I have seen far fewer birds. I did have visitors last year on up into the first week of...

That's what it seems like to me. I am seeing nothing, nooothing. Well almost nothing. Had a few flyovers but no landers. last year I saw my first subbie on May 14 and had lots of visitors after that. What's going on? Any new landlords in East Tennessee seeing any subbies. I have been watching the sc...

Saw my first visitor today. I didn't see it land on the housing. The tree swallows harassed it and it didn't hang around. They have their own gourd about 50' away from the martin pole and are building a nest. Hope to have some martins move in this year.

Only 2 SY have been reported on the scout report for Tennessee. Looks like they should be coming soon. I didn't see one until May 15th last year. Was hoping to see them earlier this year.

I didn't have a problem with starlings or sparrows last year, but one pair tree swallows tried to take over and harassed the martins that did show up. I moved their nest to 35" away from the housing, and that helped. I am going to 50' away this year and try to wait until they are committed to their ...

Yes, I'm pulling out all the stops. I've got super gourds, natural gourds crescent entrances, round entrances. pine needles for nests, mud on entrances and inside gourds, I'm going to play the dawnsong, daytime chatter. Put mirrows on gourds. Use decoys. I have gourds with porches gourds without por...

Thanks for the encouragement and congratulations on your pair and their hatchlings. I saw at least 3 today circling so they are still checking things out. I'll keep on trying.
Larry

Is there still hope for new sites in Tn. I'm still hanging in there ,but starting to get worried. I haven't seen any visitors lately. I am hoping that all the available nesting sites are taken and that we will still have a few sy birds coming in that need a home. I've got just the place for them.

I have wondered if it's too late to add porches for this year. I think I will go ahead and order them, put them on and see what happens.
Thanks everyone for the advice

Maybe I should add porches to those crescent entrances. Would that help?

Us new kids on the block have got to hang in there. I read on here that we should keep trying until the end of June, and then leave our housing up til the end of the season.. Oh well at least I haven't had to battle starlings and hosp. I am also thinking about next year and what I can do to improve ...

I'm still playing the dawnsong and daytime chatter cd's, but I had almost given up hope until today. I had visitors, 1 adult male with a sy female and a subadult male along for company. The ts chased the sy male but left the others alone. They looked things over really good, but I never saw them ent...

Had another visitor today. Flying around looking in but not entering the gourds. I was really hoping to get at least 1 pair this year. I did a nest check on the TS and they have 2 babies that they are feeding. I don't know if that will keep them busy enough to leave the martins alone or if it will m...