Purple Martin Forum

Do you think I can remove the house they are not attracted to and put up my rigged gourd rack and my 6" plastic gourds. I am just afraid since they are interested in gourds and I only have 2 up they might need more gourds if more subbies come before my new gourds arrive.
Terri

As I posted yesterday, when I returned home from work I had one subbie. He was back with 2 more subbies this morning. I have 2 health octogon aluminum house, which the birds are not going into. THey like the 2 gourds that are attached to a perch under one of the heath houses. THe problem is they are...

I couldn't imagine having as many martin's as you did in my wildest dreams, but then I only started 3 years ago. Last spring I had on adult pair. They didn't return this year or haven't yet. It was May 1st when they came last year. I don't know what happened to them. Just yesterday when I came home,...

He was back about 6:15 this morning and about 3 minutes later he brought back 2 more martins. They are sitting on my perch and going in the gourds. Chirping and doing the guttrall thing. I have high hopes they will stay. All are subadults so I can't really tell if they are male or female. I have an ...

I don't know if he came back to spend the night. The last time I saw him was around 7:00. I am afraid he will end up going to a small colony about 1/2 mile from here. I hope I haven't gotten my hopes up for nothing. Maybe he will be here tomorrow morning.

Thanks

I am so excited. When I came home today, a purple martin was sitting on the perch above my gourd. I think it must be a subadult male. He is dark on top with purple and white on his underside. He has checked out my two gourds, lit on top of my heath house. He will sit and prune his feathers for a whi...

My pole is 18 ft tall. I will put 3 feet in the ground which will leave 15 to have 2 rows of gourds. He is putting a 3rd rack in which I can add gourds later if needed. As of today, I don't have any martins at my 2 aluminum heath houses. I just want to get this up and maybe after the babies fledge a...

How many feet out of the ground does a gourd pole need to be? I am in the process of getting one made and would like advice on the subject.

Terri

I have already converted one of my heath houses. I just cut out the divider between two cavities on the top three floors. As for the bottom floor, I just cut a 2 1/4 hole on the wall between two cavities. Yes the Heath martin house that I have is hexagon shaped. If any one here on the forum has the ...

I have been waiting for martin's since the middle of February. I saw 3 or 4 on my house probably over 3 weeks ago. I am losing hope of attracting any this year since I did have a nesting pair last year. I think the martin's that came by a few weeks ago are at a neighbor's house. I just don't think t...

Can anyone share information on how to convert a health (aluminum) purple martin house that has 6x6 compartments into 6x12 compartments.

Thanks
Terri

There are 2 ponds less than 1/4 mile from my martin houses and then a third pond probably 1/2 mile away from my martin houses. I seem to be having trouble attracting martins, so I was just wondering if the ponds in my area were close enough.

Thanks

How far can a pond be from martin houses in order to help attract the martins?

Terri

I am not for sure where we got the two round telescoping poles that we have had for 3 years. We bought another one at Scruggs two weeks ago. It was located with the martin aluminum martin houses so I assume it is for martin houses. Did you get your pole at S & K? If so, is it telescoping or does it ...

I have any electronic box that plays dawnsong. It is a small box and I don't know if it is loud enough for Martin's at a distance to hear. I thought about getting an outside speaker and placing close to my houses. My question is what do you hook the loud speaker to, a portable CD player or a compute...

Those pictures are so good. What kind of camera do you have in order to get so close to the birds.

Terri

My martin houses are located about 30 ft. from my house (to the back). There is a large tree with limbs about 25 feet from my house. There is a wooden fence about 5 feet from my martin house pole. Both of my martin poles will raise and lower. I attached 2 martin decoys to the gourd perching rack and...

Tippah County is in North Mississippi. I am so glad to be a part of this site. I love to watch martins. I find myself just standing out in the yard watching the sky hoping to see them flying around above my property.

We had one nesting pair of martin's last year. They came at the end of April or first of May. The pair successfully raised babies and they flew out and returned to the nest site at night for a week or two. This year I saw a male flying around our house, probably a month ago. We took the covers off t...