Purple Martin Forum

Did you buy some bottle rockets yet Whippy. It seems to work pretty good. And it’s not like you trying to kill the hawk just shot it in his general direction when you see him on his perch getting ready to strike or even when he’s diving into your colony. He will get tired of being shot at with the b...

Sorry to here about you troubles with the hawks. Not sure if you’ve tried it or not or if anybody suggested it. But Whistler bottle rockets work really well at scaring away hawks especially if you can catch them on their perch before they attack. If the whistling doesn’t scare him the bang at the en...

Hey cool whip you were right looked out this morning and saw 2 adult males and a female. Hope to see even more tomorrow.

I saw my first adult male Martin around mid day today. He flew in and landed on the one of the gourds. He was flying around and landing on the power lines for around an hour not sure if he stayed the night or not. Very excited to see them again. I had between 25 & 30 pair last year and really hoping...

Ok thank you Dean. I think I saw my first Martin today while outside working. Have a goo season.

Is the Dawn song necessary if you have had an established colony of over 20 to 25 pair of Martins.

Hey birdbrain how did you build that bad house and how long did it take for you to actually get bats to stay in it. I put a bat house up five years ago and never had a single bad in it. I have big open fields around my property and I see bats from time to time but not very often. Thanks in advance J...

Thank you Dave

Does anyone know if there is a purple Martin association or group in the state of Tennessee?

Building you own is not out of the ? It is not very hard to do get you some heavy gauge round pipe. 3” pvc pipe the length of the pvc is based on the number of gourds you decide to use. Pulleys cable and winch. Also 1/4”all thread to connect to the pvc and to go through the gourds. I have made 3 of ...

All my birds have left for the year I guess. Haven’t seen any at my place in 3 or 4 days my friend a few miles away he still has around 20 or so. Going to be a long wait until spring.

Hey Joanne you will be surprised next year if that pair makes it back they will be the one’s to draw in the new birds for you. Play that dawn song 4 or 5 am to say noon then again in the evening from 5 till dark. Dirty up those entrances and pre nest those cavities with pine straw. And keep out all ...

I believe that they will use the rail to help them push their way into the house.

Been a great season numbers more than doubled sad part is there’s only seven left a fledge. Hopefully they’ll hang around for another week or two but if they don’t that’s OK too. The minute they leave the wait begins. But I have plenty to do cleaning out all the old gourds get them ready for next ye...

Wow that was a lot of reading but anyway get you some bottle rockets and a piece of metal pipe about 24”s long and work on your aim. If you can sit their just watch these attacks happen then you can send some bottle rockets that way to disrupt these attacks. There’s no way I would be able to just wa...

I would play the Dawn Song as loud as you possibly can with out pissing of the neighbors. It with really draw them When they are migrating north in the spring and it couldn’t hurt to play it this fall as they migrate south. Do you want as many birds as possible to see your set up this fall as they m...

I would play the Dawn Song as loud as you possibly can with out pissing of the neighbors. It with really draw them When they are migrating north in the spring and it couldn’t hurt to play it this fall as they migrate south. Do you want as many birds as possible to see your set up this fall as they m...

White pine needles to pre nest, a little mud on the porch and entrance. And don’t forget the Dawn Song play it in the morning from 4am to maybe 10 each morning. Or you can play it from 4am to sunset that night each day. If you can replace the pole for a pole you can put a wench on weight shouldn’t b...

I placed a new rack in the front yard soon after a large number of SYs arrived so the would have nesting areas because the other 3 racks were full of ASYs. They took to it very quickly and within 2 days they were nest building. So I had 5 new pairs with eggs only 1 nest now has 2 to 3 week old babie...

Are you playing the Dawn Song? Also rube some mud on the entrance and on the porch’s if you have porch’s it makes it look lived in.