Purple Martin Forum

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.

For the most part my trio castle was ignored in favor of gourds. Last year I had a trio castle dominated by 1 pair. The male and female both were relentless, so they had the entire house to themselves. I know I lost sy pairs because of this. I replaced it with a gourd rack this year and added a sent...

If there are no trees to the right of your drawing you should use that to your advantage and move it close to that property line. If a single story home it could be within 30 to 40 foot of your house. I think closer to your house is better than closer to trees.

Did you say they are still getting through the excluder entrance? If so, why put them on the crescent that they haven't breached. If the starlings have claimed a nest, I would think you could use a nest trap that fits your housing. It's not too late if the starlings are still there.

If they were both males within the same cavity it could have been a fight to both their deaths. I haven't had experience with sparrows attacking my Martins, but I can't imagine it taking out 2 of them. Just a couple thoughts.

Right on Ladybug. I betting he will convince her to stay within the next few nights.

I looked at the scout arrival study for Louisiana for 2019. Someone reported their first sy bird came on 4/20. With that in mind you should have several weeks for the sy birds to keep coming in. Good luck!

If you lower it 2 to 3 feet, they won't act like they even noticed. Leave it down until the threat of strong winds are over. If I lower mine down for a thunderstorm overnight, I don't raise it back up until the next afternoon when I come home from work, so I'm not interfering with ther social time.

Hey Tommy, that's great news. Active in the morning and gone until evening is typical. They have to eat sometime and that's when it is. That is also when they will recruit more to your colony. Relax and enjoy the ride.

If you listen to Purple Martins on YouTube, they have a very distinct sound. I think you would recognize it. I assume the bird you seen was making some kind of chatter? If it is a Purple Martin that is very exciting.

There has been some talk about this recently, so I paid more attention today. High temperature for today was 43 degrees. Most all day the Martins stayed at the housing or short runs nearby. At 3:00 the sun started peeping out and eventually went to full sun. When the sun peeped, birds that weren't a...

Just when the colony settles in, here comes the sy crowd to stir it up again. I like the activity.

I inherited a duracraft (castle style) house from my mother. I so much would like to get the Martins to accept this house as they produced lots of young in it for my mother in past years. Normally the Martins pay no attention to it at all, not even to use it as a perch. They will pass right by only ...