Purple Martin Forum

I assumed the reason to start playing the dawn song at 4am is there could potentially be Martins flying over migrating? When you see certain pics in low light, Martins eyes seem to have the same reflective glare as a deer or some other nocturnal animal when they have light shined on them. Seems like...

I was pretty surprised to see 2 ASY females in my backyard this afternoon. Its in the thirties and really windy. As soon as I saw them I went out and raised the one rack while they watched from about 15' away. I went inside and thawed out some crickets, when I came back out one was gone and the othe...

RC
I'd love to see a pic of that set up.

SOLID!
Congrats!

Tanner
I'll start saving them for you, in a year's time i probably get a round 50 to 100. Send me a pm with your e mail if you want.
Matt

I'd love to see a pic of the trap too, and also one of the female house sparrows you are catching. Catching all females is not a normal ratio.

I'd love to see a pic of the trap too, and also one of the female house sparrows you are catching. Catching all females is not a normal ratio.

Zag
A couple inches deep at least. A lot of people fill their gourds up to just below the entrance hole.

Sometimes the Martins remove all the pine straw and start over from bare floors.

PMS
Red tails would be territorial towards other Red tails but not likely towards Coopers. They nest in a little bit different areas and have quite a different diet, so the two rarely cross paths for the most part.
Good luck this year!

Redtails are opportunistic hunters so that doesn't suprise me at all to hear that one came in and took an injured starling off the ground. One thing i would say with 100% certainty is that a Redtail would not catch a healthy Martin. So i would not worry about it, just don't give it a reason to hang ...

Bluebirds are piling into houses for warmth here at night, watched about ten go into house last night.
Hate to be the first one in at night.

I built one last spring, it worked so well that I'm building another one right now. Really works good if you strategically hang some grass and feathets out of the cracks to make it look like a trash bird used it for nesting last year. Glue some feathets near the entrance to help attract hosp inside ...

Looks like a very predator safe house... 6 compartments total?

Since most poles bend at the top of the ground stake maybe putting a piece of pipe inside the pole that stuck above the top of the ground stake a few feet would help. Like if you have a 3' ground stake, put a 5' piece of pipe in the bottom of the pole for re-enforcement in that critical area? We mak...

Yeah, I can't imagine how she lost her other leg.

That was classic "tiger by the tail" really don't want to hang on but afraid to let go.

Thanks for sharing

Has anyone tried to make a recording of hatchling martins at their colony? I have had martins coming in daily to the dawnsong recording being played at my site, but was wondering if anyone has attemted to make a recording of young Martin sounds to use as an attraction tool for late season. I would t...

Pete

Great news! Add another one in Michigan!
Please continue to keep us posted on what happens down there in Zeeland.

Congrats!

I guess my next investment should be some chickens and a chicken coop to attract Martins.

Hard to believe they like it there with that many tall trees all the way around the perimiter of the yard.

Cool video thanks for sharing.

Hey Pete Sounds like a good sign. It's tough to start a new colony in this state so congrtas, keep us posted on what happens. I have a pair of sy's that started building a nest the end of May, they still bring in green leaves now and then but have not layed any eggs yet. I have never heard of that b...

Also, has anyone had experience with PMCA Repeating Bait Trap? I have three PM systems spread over two acres; how many would I need to control this much space?[/quote] Bait traps work excellent on young sparrows. I built a Brad's sparrow trap this Spring and caught nothing but chipping sparrows and ...