Purple Martin Forum

Perfect. As Ryan suggested, keep the dawsong going until you have a pair that has definitely committed or you can tell they are not comfortable with it. I believe it is company for them and they don't feel so alone as well as it being the number 1 attractant for an unestablished colony. Fingers cros...

They sure look good sitting on your housing. Never know, only time will tell if they stay or just moving through. Regardless its a good sign. Keep us posted.

Martins will tolerate a lot more, less than ideal conditions at an established site, such as trees to close and pressure from starlings and sparrows. Looking at the google map, I think your best spot is about straight across your yard from where it is and to the left of your house. That gives you th...

A t least you didn't come out guns a blazing and take out one of the good guys. I think that was a good sign. Keep the faith and stay vigilant, it will happen.

Garry, your to close to that tree. It's hard to tell from the pictures, what kind of open area do you have to the right of the pole. If you can do as Lowe suggested with the google earth it is very helpful. Eastham, make no mistake about it, that pole can be climbed. I seen a raccoon climb a 3/4"x 3...

Trying picture again. :(

Someone closer to Geogia would know more, but i think your still good on sy birds still coming in. Roght in line with what PM David suggesred I mounted a tv antenna for additional perching. It could also be parted out for single perches.

Looking at your picture again. How close are the trees on the left hand side?

The 12 feet you mentioned in a previous post is good. I think a decoy helped me start my colony and prenesting the cavities will make it look lived in. Remember martins like company, so anything you can do to make it appear that others are there is a good thing.

A couple thoughts. You should be playing the dawn song all day long as it will be your number 1 attractant to get martins to checkout your site. Don't give up on it, because it didn't work the one year. How far is your martin pole from your house or human activity? Looks to be in a very open area, b...

I caught my second double on starlings this morning. I have not caught any sparrows yet. As the instructions read I tried to balance it where 4 or 5 quarters would tip the scales and still reset. It said this would catch a sparrow, but I can't confirm as of yet.

How is your location of pole placement for open flyways and distance from trees. Can you post pictures. The google earth pictures really help in understanding your setup. As stated before, the dawn song is a major attractant.

Fuzz, do a google search for NB compact starling trap. It will come up as a download from the pmca site, but I can't find it on the site itself. Chuck's Purple Martin has a different version of the inside tripping mechanism as well. I caught another one last night. The beauty of it is, the starlings...

Here's the finished product.

I don't have a big starling problem, but in my opinion one starling is too many. I built this trap about a month ago and had no success the first couple weeks. As of late business has picked up and has proven to be worth my time. I thoght I would post this as one option for those looking for a trap.

Billie, sorry I didn't explain. The plate slides over the face of the tunnel outside of the entrance hole. The wire is inserted from inside the gourd and pokes through the little hole above the entrance. When the sparrow goes into the tunnel he pushes the wire into the gourd and that will dop the me...

Your third option came with my troyer gourds. It can't get any more simple. I used it earlier this year with good success.

My Duracraft castle is al most all white with no occupancy. :(

What type of entrance does your housing have.? The sreh would help keep the starlings at bay.

I'm not familiar with the tri poles, but lowering them down to 10 ft will not be an issue for the martins. Lower it down early evening before they start coming to bed for the night.